Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta) Seedlings

[Joel]

Hi guys,

If you had an infinite supply, what would you do with them? Would you do a forest/group? Try fusing? Let them grow wild in the ground and trunk chop? Or would you just throw em away.

Yes Ben, its that time again. . .

JayC

[Steven]

E. All of the above.
S.

[FlyBri]

If you had an infinite supply, what would you do with them? Would you do a forest/group? Try fusing? Let them grow wild in the ground and trunk chop? Or would you just throw em away.

Hey JayC!

That's a tricky question... In my limited experience (I grew a lot of G. robusta seeds some years ago), the vigorous, coarse growth and huge compound leaves make me think the species is best suited to large Bonsai. My initial thoughts lean toward the fusing and trunk chop options: if memory serves, the species backbuds quite well. A large specimen in flower would be quite spectacular. That said, if you have an 'infinite' supply of seedlings (as well as infinite water and time), I'd tick all the boxes above.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Fly.

[Joel]

Thanks for the replies guys!

It is that time of the year again when THOUSANDS of these seedlings cover my front yard. I have a full sized tree the puts out more seedlings than i can handle. I usually dig them up and put them in the bin. Last year i kept one to play with, and see how much i can reduce the foliage. It seems somewhat responsive, with leaves about 150 mm long, a lot smaller than the norm. Bonsai with Australian Natives shows that the compound leaves can be cut in half. I am yet to try this, but i think it would make the leaf look odd/deformed.

I have enough time to do some work with them, but i suspect my time could be better used with some new stock. I just wanted to know if there's anything in particular that i should try, or anything that anybody on here has wanted to try, that i could help with.

Thanks again!

JayC

[kcpoole]

As has been said Try them all if you can

I dug some from My Motherin laws that had self sown. they have been in the ground there for a couple of years and had reasoanble trunk Bases. 1 -2 "

I willl repot them this year into decent soil and see what I can make of them and how they respond to leaf reduction

I know they will shoot back from Bare wood and they will take lots of abuse

Ken