Attempt at she oak semi cascade

[cottie]

This is an attempt at a semi cascade she oak, any advice welcome.

[Rory]

Styling advice:
The world is your oyster. Many great casuarina can be seen growing up and out over rivers / dams / creeks / beaches, so I would just say take a look at them growing if you can, and pick one you like and style it from that.

Horticultural advice:
Just make sure all foliage areas get sun all the time. If you allow the top growth to get too bushy it will shade the lower areas and reduce the vigour below. It can help to point the end of the foliage up, if you have branches pointing downwards to encourage the branches to thicken.

I don't usually recommend wiring on such young branches. Once the main trunk sets, remove the wire asap. I have found you may encourage die back with wiring very thin branches. Don't leave the wire on any branches too long for that matter.

Fertilize it regularly, give it full sun and don't constantly prune it. I don't recommend moss with any casuarina, especially torulosa which you appear to be growing. If it is kept in an environment that encourages moss growth (otherwise the moss is going to die and doesn't matter), but this means it will be kept fairly shaded and watered, this may eventually kill the tree, and/or also encourage the moss up the trunk and keep the bark constantly moist.... another bad idea with torulosa.

No offence, but looking at your area and no idea of your level of bonsai knowledge... don't keep this indoors. It needs full sun.

On very hot periods, If you forget to water, give it plenty of water immediately and don't give up on it... They may die back towards the centre of the tree and shoot again from the lower areas. The key with keeping casuarina at their peak, is they like to be allowed to use all the water in the pot, then be replenished with water again. Often the foliage will droop on a hot day, (this is normal), but don't make the assumption that the foliage is drooping more than usual, so that it needs water. Check the soil with your finger, if it is still damp, don't re-water!

[Ryozo]

Looking pretty good cotti . I would personally put it in a bigger pot to let it grow & cascade more.

[cottie]

Thanks for the advice Rory. The tree is kept outside in sun with the rest of my bonsai, and the moss was put on the pot for the photo. The tree was already growing in a semi cascade fashion when I brought it about 9 months ago so I'm hopeful that I can keep it going.I haven't had much experience wiring this species so I will take your advice and remove the wires as soon as possible.

[kcpoole]

No offence, but looking at your area and no idea of your level of bonsai knowledge... don't keep this indoors. It needs full sun.

A little condescending
Its obvious that it was brought inside to photograph the tree

also why not wire young branches
Many people that were at Pavels' demos and workshops on the weekend would disagree with that statement.
Young branches and shoots are ideal time to wire an set in place. They will lignify and hold their shape quickly.

As Cottie has had the tree for 9 months and obviously has kept it alive and healthy in that time then they are asking for styling advice

Back to the tree, I do not like to see a constant radius bend at the top of the cascade, if you can get a kink or tighter section would be nice
Many Casuarina that are bent over are done so by external forces ( Water, trees rocks) when it floods, and thus have broken bits that reshoot and created sharp corners.
I might bring the base of the cascade back toward the pot a little more

Ken

[Rory]

No offence, but looking at your area and no idea of your level of bonsai knowledge... don't keep this indoors. It needs full sun.

A little condescending
Its obvious that it was brought inside to photograph the tree

It wasn't obvious to me, which is why I suggested it. The fact that he/she only had 15 posts, suggested he/she may be knew and thus I was offering basic advice, not knowing how experienced he/she was.

also why not wire young branches
Many people that were at Pavels' demos and workshops on the weekend would disagree with that statement.
Young branches and shoots are ideal time to wire an set in place. They will lignify and hold their shape quickly.

Of course, I agree that young growth is the ideal time to shape, but it is the smaller wiring I was referring to on the very young branches. Brenda Parker (the president of the Illawara Bonsai Society) helpfully told me this golden piece of advice, as well as how to cut them back. She warned about ensuring there was foliage growing just below the point of cutting back. There are many types of Casuarina, and there is no problem doing this with cunninghamiana, glauca, and others, which I have since also found to be quite correct. But with torulosa, she stated they can have a tendency to die back when wired on very young growth. I was giving advice, as the poster asked for advice, and my advice was "I don't usually recommend wiring on such young branches". I don't see a problem with the trunk, but it was the branches I was referring to. Torulosa branches will stay flexible quite a while longer than the thickness shown in this photo. In the past I have lost branches from wiring them at such young age, and having been warned about these 2 golden bits of advice from her, I learnt quite quickly that this can happen, and she kindly warned me about this when I purchased a lot of stock from Bonsai South. Obviously It isn't a rule of thumb, but I have had torulosa die back when new growth was wired on such young branches.

As Cottie has had the tree for 9 months and obviously has kept it alive and healthy in that time then they are asking for styling advice

This was not mentioned until after I posted my advice. The only comment at all on the post when I replied to it was

"This is an attempt at a semi cascade she oak, any advice welcome."