lepto cardwell

[peterb]

Hi Everyone
In a previous post " acacia for noobs" Rory suggests lepto cardwell as a good candidate for a beginner . Could someone give more info on them, eg how do they go with root pruning , season for pruning and how about wiring etc. I've been a bit wary of leptos but when I Googled these they are very pretty with the white flowers
Cheers Peterb

[robb63]

Hi Peter,
I have one that was sick looking 2 months ago and now budding in my grow bed.
From other growers I have learnt not to touch roots until warmer days, November in Sydney.
I cut mine back fairly hard in June and no problems, has not skipped a beat yet .
Mine was root bound so if it survives a major prune in November I'll be happy
I did see a local nursery pruning and wiring young Lepto's last week and they said that
repot / root work was done early summer.
cheers

[Rory]

Leptospermum flavescens cardwell

Recommendations:

Repot / root prune work : September - November (if in the colder southern states, perhaps towards the end of Spring). Try not to remove more than 50% of the roots, or 60% of the foliage in one hit (even though I did, they sulked for a while but flourished 4 weeks later). I tried to keep the root pruning for each specimen done in under 20 minutes. I made sure the roots were well watered (kept wet) during the whole process. MAKE SURE you leave numerous areas of small fibrous roots still on. Be gentle with the roots, they can be a little fragile in areas.

Growth: Will happily shoot back on old wood. Will tolerate heavy pruning in warmer months. If the roots have not been disturbed recently it can put on fast growth all throughout the year including winter. If you perform a heavy trunk chop, do this in late spring. Even if it sulks for a while do not give up on them. They are very hardy and will usually eventually push out new growth after a heavy cut-back. You can moderately prune all year long without any fear of strong die-back.

The young branches remain supple for quite a while and you can easily style/shape young branches for quite some time before they lignify. It appears to not be prone to bulging even with multiple bar branches. I just remove anything more than 2 bar branches to be on the safer side.

It puts out new shoots all over the tree after a heavy cut back (including down low), so its growth for bonsai is exceptional. The growth can remain heavily shaded for many, many weeks before it shows any signs of losing vigour.

Soil / Medium: Will tolerate a range of soils, but prefers not to be left on the dry side too long, and appears to grow well in a slightly heavier medium. Having said that, a few were exposed to periods of induced drought and all recovered perfectly after a few weeks of regular watering. My personal recommendation is to grow them in a medium-heavier mix and allow them to dry out for a longer period before rewatering. The ones grown in a lighter mix would require more frequent watering and didn't grow as well.

Sun: Will thrive in half-day sun to part-shade. (I haven't tried them in full sun)

Foliage: The best of any Lepto I've ever seen. Very strong lime-pear colour that really compliments the tiny cream-white flowers. The striking foliage colour is the best part of this Lepto in my opinion.

Cardwell.jpg

[peterb]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm definitely going to get one or two. Looking forward to trying them out. That info was great Rory , is there any chance of putting it in the wiki
Cheers Peterb.