What to do with this Cas

[Tropicalgirl]

Hi all
The local nusery had 40% off sale this weekend, I got this Casuarina Equestifolia for $14, a bargain for a tree taller than me.
What would you do with it? I'll get it in a bigger pot and let it grow for now,
Deanna

[kcpoole]

Chop low to get taper happeing while you grow it on in that larger pot
Ken

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[kcpoole]

And when you do repot. Plant at an angle to start movement

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[Tropicalgirl]

Thanks Ken,
How low would you chop, I'm not sure how tall the tree will need to be in the end.
I would like to try to use the bit I cut off for cuttings so I think it might be better to wait a month or so until the humidity comes back ( she says sitting here sweating on a record hot June day ) still could get dry and windy enough to kill cuttings, the weather is a bit crazy these days

[Watto]

I agree with Ken, cut it low (about 30 cm high for a start) but it looks starved to me, give it a good dose of fertilizer to kick start it.

[kcpoole]

Like watto said about 300mm. you shodu get shoting below there to use as new apex, then select one of them and cut buck to that one. Wire up and to shape and let grow on mad. Rinse and repeat until happy with trunk size and shape, then grow branches..

Fertilise well and often

Ken

[Steven]

Hi Deanna,

Is the trunk bendable? If you can it would be best to put some movement into it before chopping. Use the height of it for leverage and put some movement into it as low as you can then chop it.

Failing that chop it in mid Spring as low as you're comfortable so you can grow some movement and taper into it.

Regards,
Steven

[Andreas]

I have a rather big Casuarina equisetifolia and as I can see it the tree you got is bendable to anything you like. I would if you got the place build a big wooden box that is about 50-100 cm hight and wide on the sunniest spot you got. Build the top 20 cm out of 2cm wide by 3 cm hight, so you can remove it every season one or layer of wood.

Take the tree and place the roots onto a slate or ceramic tile 30x30 cm as low it can be, around 3cm hight root base, spread the roots onto it with about 2cm soil below the roots (fix it with any organic thread) than place it into the box with all other roots remaining outside of the ceramic.set it into the box with about 3cm depth above the root base. This way you form a nice nebari, then let it grow, so the trunk is able to thicken up. If you like to cut it down, you can. I would however suggest that you wire it into any desired shape you intend to have, since in this stage the trunk is very easy to bend and has the potential to become a nice big tree.

Your side branches can be wired too, make sure you cover the branches thick with rapia or self fusing tape, before wiring so the wire can't cut in. Then let it grow as long as you can for 2-4 seasons. The Casuarina in my experience don't like to be root cut to often. With the ceramic in place you can check during the growing time to see how the roots develop. If you see the ceramic becomes trapped, you can just remove one board of wood and start exposing the roots step by step and break the ceramic out, this way you can lower the top soil every season and further expose the roots to the desired liking. Here my tree to see what can be done.

IMG_0269.jpg

[Tropicalgirl]

You are right Andreas, it will bend, very nice tree by the way.
At the moment is is fairly root bound in its little pot and like Watto says needs a good feed. I like your suggestion of a box to put it in but I think the termites will do away with anything made out of wood and probably the tree too, maybe a foam box?. I like the tile idea too but I don't want to over stress and kill the poor thing by bending it and playing with the roots, or am I worrying too much?
Out of curiosity what do you guys use to fertilise your trees?

[Andreas]

Take any bricks, that works, if you worry about Ans. You can also use pond liner underneath and put the box on bricks and have water below, nothing to hard to do! You can go and bend it no problem, then wait a month or two while building the box, or use styrofoam what ever you like. Don't need to cut the roots just open them up and leave some of the soil so the fungus that feeds them is not totally removed and multiple faster in the new soil. The pond liners are a cheap solution for white Ans problems in general, plus you get a nice humidity around the trees. Some guppy fisch or goldfish eat mosquitos. I got Ans here in Indo but never had a problem so far, you can also lay saw dust and wood cuttings in areas so they keep away of your trees.Solutions are plenty.

[Tropicalgirl]

Thanks Andreas. Your help is much appreciated

[Tropicalgirl]

It ain't pretty but it's bent

[Andreas]

You must use non stick tape this can form a layer of 2-3mm thickness. When bending use a core wire 6mm than go smaller, there is a free wire tutorial on craftsy (google it). Do you wanna go cascade? When bending remember you can always bend slow and more at a later stage. Flex where you wanna bend a bit back and forward then come slowly to the final position.

[shibui]

I think the termites will do away with anything made out of wood and probably the tree too, maybe a foam box?.

Don't be fooled TG. Termites love polystyrene. They ate through the ash shelves in my kitchen cupboards so they could get to the poly boxes I had stuff stored in

[/When bending remember you can always bend slow and more at a later stage. quote] I totally agree Andreas. Bend as far as you dare one day. A few days later you will find that it will bend much further. I find that this applies to all species.

[Tropicalgirl]

Thanks guys,
I have no bigger wire so took the tape and wire off and it stayed bent, nothing has split or broken it is surprisingly flexible.
I have weighted it down to stop it from standing back up. When I get something bigger to plant it in I'll chop the top.
I have never had termites eat styrofoam (yet) but I've heard of them going through metal so I guess foam isn't a big issue for them