Casuarina

[anthonyW]

Hi guys this a collected bush at the time,but when stripped back and a look at structure,well a ugly stick pretty plain and simple,I would try and learn with this for better sticks later,when cut back pretty severe noticed growth towards ends,so shorten branches to stubs and watch again,same again so I learned something,I needed some of those stubs,so I would build from there and wait and wait for more flukey shoots,not quite enough but make the most of them,as you can see it was evolving but looked a little too fluffy ,manufactured if you like,so I would change direction and it let go feral and start again,the pics explain..cheers Anthony

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wow lol

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Today and interesting little plates forming

[NAHamilton]

I like all of these progressions you are putting up Anthony.

This Casuarina is coming along nicely. Do you know which kind it is?

Cheers Nigel

[mjhc]

Love the progression mate. Any chance you know when/over how long the pics where taken?

[anthonyW]

Thank you Nigel,pretty sure its C.cunninghamiana,I did pull it next to water course and compared it to tube stock not 100% sure, may be Ash might have a look and make a call never easy from a photo but..cheers

Thank you Mjhc, dates show after sitting on it for a season to get a root system, going a good 13 mths but I did fiddle a lot(first to third pic) then left to go feral for 4 years approx.I think if your got roots/rootball you could make a serious go of it 2 to 3 they are fantastic growers(depending size of course)..cheers

[anthonyW]

Little update,the tree was cut back,now with winter approaching we let it go out of sync.

When visiting Singapore few years back,I was lucky to get bit of a one on one chat with one of the curators at the Bonsai Gardens there on Casuarinas,he spoke to me about this material will not stay in silhouette very long as it is energetic grower and that constant cutting/pinching is not wise as it depletes energy and inevitably die back especially on tender bits,so enjoy it quickly then let it go LOL,good bloke,good information.

I think Steven said you will have to watch the top branching as it can be quite apical/toppy with branching out growing its ratios/thickness as I have experienced that, so you will have to keep replacing these parts continually.

Here is the tree today,please excuse the plastic,just trying to build some more surface roots.

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Cheers Anthony

[KIRKY]

great tree in such a short time.
Cheers
Kirky

[GavinG]

You've highlighted a very important issue with Casuarinas - if you trim them tidy like pines they look really plastic. I think the last photo in the progression is the most convincing, with shortish needles/branchlets, and plenty of space between them. Wild-ish branches on a roughish trunk. Nice work.

Thanks for posting,

Gavin

[Steven]

Looking great Anthony, well done.

Regarding the advice of the Curator in Singapore, I've found that letting a sacrifice branch grow untrimmed helps reduce die back in other areas. Maybe it gives the tree an outlet for excess energy or maybe I've just gotten lucky

Regards,
Steven

[Rory]

Looking great Anthony, well done.

Regarding the advice of the Curator in Singapore, I've found that letting a sacrifice branch grow untrimmed helps reduce die back in other areas. Maybe it gives the tree an outlet for excess energy or maybe I've just gotten lucky

Regards,
Steven

Cunninghamiana and Glauca I find are generally much more dominant up top I agree. They will put more energy into the upper growth at the top to reach the light, at the expense of all other growth. They are not a tree to have crowded among others, if you wish to develop good branching. Steven has mentioned before in other threads that you should wire/encourage/bend the ends of the branches
up to promote the branch into solid growth, which I agree wholeheartedly with.

I find it also depends on the species. With torulosa and littoralis, provided you allow the branch to thicken to over 1cm in diameter, you usually wont get dieback. However if you don't have adequate sunlight for the branches, then all bets are off and you can get dieback anywhere. Casuarina will grow towards the light, always. If there is ample light, ample fertilizer and no periods of drought given to the area(s) of the tree, they will usually respond with good growth all over.

This is perhaps why torulosa and littoralis have a more competitive advantage over cunninghamiana and glauca when it comes to ramification for bonsai. Using a sacrifice branch is also a good idea, because casuarina are quick healers so any scar will eventually heal relatively quickly. But from my experience, I find just making sure the tree isn't shaded by others and not in close proximity to other trees makes a world of difference and promotes good short, healthy growth. Fertilize once every 2 weeks and full sun usually means you wont experience die back.

And from my own experiences I don't usually recommend constant pruning on casuarina either, I agree, and I also believe this encourages die back if you constantly chew away at the same area. This goes for many other genus' too. But I usually don't cut back much or reduce much at all in winter as well. I do my heavy trunk chopping/cutting back in Spring/Summer. Then just a tidy up / trim for autumn, and try to let it alone in winter. If given good sunlight in winter, casuarina will still put on good growth over this season. It is one of the great benefits of casuarina, and why they are so fast at thickening their trunks.

[anthonyW]

Thanks Kirky,Gavin,Steven and Rory for your thoughts and kind words.

A material I find not overly used,but the interest is growing as people get to see others get a bit of a win,for me I am very new to the stuff and playing with it is obvious the way to learn,basically trial and error for me as I don't have a mentor for this material in my area,unfortunately trying to find care notes on casuarina is very ordinary at best,so through the few that try with this type in positives and mistakes we all learn so feel free to add like Steven,Gavin and Rory's experiences and thoughts.

Some photos I took with permission from the good people in Singapore.

Some of the trees in silhouette,some coming out of silhouette,and as you can see resting and waiting to go back in silhouette.

The red tag on some from memory indicates due for the next repots

They like them big for fast growers LOL...cheers

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[anthonyW]

Here we go,got some good roots closer to the top,so now we could reduce the root - ball to seat it lower in the pot,trimmed from the winter bush and fed well now ready to kick on,changed the medium up to 60% potting media(Leongs mix)to keep the moisture up and a approx 40% scoria in the fold with scoria topping for ascetics and to keep those curl grubs at bay,... cheers

Anthony

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[delisea]

Hi Anthony, Great work. Fantastic moment in the trunk.
Cheers Symon

[Boics]

Hi mate good stuff but a larger higher quality image would be great

[anthonyW]

Thanks Symon,nature gets all the credit for trunk movement unfortunately or is that fortunately lol..I just pushed it over (tilted).
ps looking at those figs now

Thanks Boics,here we go...click on image for bigger view hopefully

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