Eucalyptus torquata

[terryb]

Thanks Anthony for taking the time to produce the drawings. Not a skill I possess and very much appreciated. I will file these away with the rest of my notes on this tree so I can refer to them as the tree develops. Given that I have some low interesting branch divisions, I’m leaning towards multi trunks at present but we’ll see what happens after some more growth. Again many thanks.

Terry

[GavinG]

Terryb, your cut points look fine, as far as a photo is going to tell us. When it reshoots INSANELY EVERYWHERE, rub off nearly all the buds carefully, and only leave a few where you want them. Let them grow long to thicken, then cut back hard again next summer. I have bare-rooted some Eucs, but not this one - once again, plenty of water after the operation. Maybe only if the soil is foul and old and non-draining at the base of the tree.

Neal, if the leaves are small the internodes usually are as well - I'll post some detail photos shortly. This year. Hopefully.

Gavin

[terryb]

Thanks for your insights Gavin

[terryb]

A few days after the last post, I found the time to repot and prune this eucalypt. The roots certainly had been growing strongly into the pot below the colander which contained standard potting mix.

10i19.JPG

I then proceeded to remove the potting mix to find the base of the colander. I used a sharp chisel to remove protruding roots flush with the colander as I worked my way around the colander. Quick and easy.

10i19_1.JPG

At this point I simply cut the root ball off with a saw at the base of the colander and cleaned off the protruding roots so I could get the tree out of the colander.

When I originally potted this tree, I had included some soft diatomite which had broken down and resulted in the poor water percolation I was observing. Obviously sitting the colander in a water tray would not have helped! I decided that I would remove the old soil completely and here is where I ended up after a trim.

10i19_2.JPG

I haven't repotted a eucalypt before, so I assume this was the base of the lignotuber. Most of the roots appeared to be coming out from the top of this woody structure.

10i19_3.JPG

All done, with new coarse substrate and a prune.

10i19_4.JPG

After-care consisted of sitting the colander in a shallow water tray back in the same sunny spot and watering when the tray was empty. I did cover with shade cloth on days of 40C+ (and thankfully on the 46.6C day we had). Move forward a couple of weeks and the buds are starting to pop.

27i19.JPG

27i19_1.JPG

Will now follow Gavin's advice, select some shoots and let them grow.

[GavinG]

Certainly get rid of the buds at the base as soon as you can - they will take strength from the shoots you want higher up. Be very careful removing all-but-one buds higher up when they are very fresh - they dislodge very easily.

Good to see it has survived comprehensive root work.

Gavin

[Rory]

Damn. I would have cut much higher

Eucalypts don’t make the rockin’ world go round.

[terryb]

Certainly get rid of the buds at the base as soon as you can - they will take strength from the shoots you want higher up. Be very careful removing all-but-one buds higher up when they are very fresh - they dislodge very easily.

Good to see it has survived comprehensive root work.

Gavin

Thanks for all your advice Gavin and of course Neil as well I certainly would not have felt comfortable having a go without it. I have one more eucalypt I gave the same treatment to and it has also responded well. I will post it when I get some time.

Damn. I would have cut much higher

Not sure I follow. Do you think I cut too low?

Eucalypts don’t make the rockin’ world go round.

I dunno, they appear to be performing like champions, my friend

[Rory]

Damn. I would have cut much higher

Not sure I follow. Do you think I cut too low?

Eucalypts don’t make the rockin’ world go round.

I dunno, they appear to be performing like champions, my friend

Fat bottom girls make the rockin' worl' go round.... not fat bottom Eucalypt bases.
I thought it had a lovely natural multi-trunk look developing. I would not have cut back so low no.
But this is all just my opinion. Thus in my opinion we are far too reliant on old beliefs that we have to cut back continually on bases to develop a thick base before concentrating on the trunk.

[GavinG]

And from the other side of the fence...

I like cutting back hard because I get the chance to have angles and interest and strong trunks - it takes a while longer, but I like the result. There is certainly a place for long slender elegant Eucalypts, particularly in mallee forms, but unfortunately my mind just doesn't go there.

Each to his own. When all the shoots have shown, pick those that you want, with an interesting angle. Don't try and " design" the tree yet, just put one more element into what the tree will evolve into. Much more interesting than "designing", for me.

All the best,

Gavin

[anthonyW]

Ooh Terry I was hoping you were not going to do that...wow..not another chopper

Unique material gone...and as for early design, best skill you can learn, turns mediocre trees into better trees quicker. ...just my opinion like everybody else's

I sincerely wish you good luck, you obviously have another vision path...I look forward to your progression...cheers Anthony

[terryb]

Hi Anthony,
I agree that being able to design and see the possible end result is a great skill to have. I will happily admit that currently this is difficult for me and maybe I will develop this skill after many years in the game and as I learn the in- and-outs of the species I grow. Therefore, I rely on getting ideas from anyone who will provide an opinion (the folk at my bonsai club, visiting tutors, ausbonsai members, etc), books, the internet and the like.

As a relative new-comer to bonsai, information can be contradictory and seeing the right path forward can be murky. Not knowing what the next step might be or fearing I might do something wrong has resulted in a bunch of trees that don’t get worked on. I have come to the conclusion that this course of action does not help me learn anything or develop. Do I ever think “Damn I wish I had not done that”? Frequently, but occasionally a course of action will work out for the better. I learn from both scenarios and I hope by posting, others will learn too.

I hope you don’t feel your time was wasted providing feedback. It provided me with a sense of how others view the same material. I only have two eucalypts and I am now learning what happens when I go down this developmental path. I might not choose that path next time I need to work on them.

Keep the opinions coming, I stand to learn some more!
Terry

[MJL]

Hey TerryB,

I can't speak for Anthony or anyone else on this forum but ...perhaps I will with this next sentence. I don't reckon anyone is going to feel like they have wasted their time provide advice and thoughts on this forum - to your thread or anyone else's. We participate on this forum because of the diversity of ideas thoughts and experience. Well I do anyway!

As much as we all seek advice and feedback - in the end, we choose our own paths based on our vision and knowledge at any given time - some will agree and some will not. Some will like the design and some will not. Indeed, your comment and conclusion in the para below is so true:

"Not knowing what the next step might be or fearing I might do something wrong has resulted in a bunch of trees that don’t get worked on. I have come to the conclusion that this course of action does not help me learn anything or develop. Do I ever think “Damn I wish I had not done that”? Frequently, but occasionally a course of action will work out for the better. I learn from both scenarios and I hope by posting, others will learn too."

This is a subjective sport. Although there are basic fundamentals that we all should learn to guide our way (and some basic rules of nature/horticulture that we need to apply to keep trees alive) in the end, my view is that Bonsai is an artistic human endeavour. We are all different, our individual visions are different and our skills and experience are at different levels. When we seek advice - generally the advice comes back thick and fast. Sometimes the views are aligned at other times there is a range of ideas which can be confusing. As you say, that confusion can stop us newer folk from acting or we can say to ourselves 'stuff-it' this is my vision - on this occasion, I am going take this action.

If it helps - you are about three years ahead of me on the guts and skills calendar! I did not ground grow many trees early on - nor did I use a colander. Further, I wasted at least three years doing sweet f'all to my trees - for fear of killing a tree or taking the wrong branch off or ... you name the reason to procrastinate and I will have used it. You taking this action shows a desire to learn and grow your understanding and knowledge; we all learn from that experience.

Cheers for posting and I look forward to seeing your tree progress.

Talking about subjective - I'd better get to the Australia Day thread and post a vote or two on this great trees.

[terryb]

An update on the progress of this eucalypt.
The shoots I selected after last year's cut back were promptly eaten (beetles and katydids most likely). Fortunately, new shoots soon appeared lower on the trunks and these survived. This has resulted in some deadwood on both trunks, which I have left for the time being. I didn't put the colander back into a larger pot, it has remained sitting in a shallow water tray, nonetheless the trunks have got thicker and the bark better. In the images below you will see that the older reddish bark on the branches has been peeling away leaving smooth new bark. I wired some movement into the branches while they were young and the curves have held quite well. I think it is getting a bit broad and I will need to tip the potting angle so that both trunks are visible.

30xii19_1.jpg

30xii19_3.jpg

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Hey TerryB,
This seems to be powering on for you. Good response from the cut back.
Thanks for taking the time to post an update

[MJL]

Yep, powering along. Lovely tree in the making. Indeed, I reckon AnthonyW’s first drawing is back in play in terms of design. Thanks for the update.


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