G'day all...

[boristhebadseed]

I am trying to develope this lovely little eucalyptus (Eucalyptus Gunnie) I think, it didn't have a label.
It has a fairly well developed trunk and nice bark shedding in summer but the folliage is leggy and pinching and pruning seems to lead to dead branches. I have observed the eucalyptus in the wild and have noticed the Galars and Cockatoos prune the new foliage off in autumn (AprIl/ May)

I am wanting to develop lower and more branching options, from which to shorten the leggy growth and shrink the leaves and am pondering the merits of rejuvination of new growth by fire? Has anybody tried this? Alternatively, will the tree survive a trunk chop or branch trim/harsh prune at repotting? I had tried this on a less vigorous tree two years ago and it died.

I generally prefer smaller trees, around Shohin size, but am doubtful this is acheivable with a eucalyptus.

Your advice is much appreciated, thanks in advance.

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[robb63]

Hi Boris
Welcome to ausbonsai

[DangerousDave]

Hi Boris,
First up, great looking tree. Love the material you have to work with there. I’m a bit too green to advise on achieving some of your longer term goals you identify, but I do see a couple of issues that I think are worth addressing sooner rather than later.
At least a couple of your branches are essentially forming a ‘Y’ in your trunk and disrupt movement/flow and will ultimately mess with taper that is otherwise off to a great start.
I’d suggest removing the first large branch, by which I mean the one one left in your last photo. I think if you reduced it to an appropriate sized jin is would suit the species and tell a natural story. Perhaps you are using it as a sacrifice, but I think it’ll have to go soon before your taper is spoiled. There is a smaller lower one that may still work to build taper in the right area.
The other Y where the top two branches split I think is going to be a problem too. If you want to keep a lot of what you have grown there, then perhaps you could reduce the foliage mass on one of those so the other can develop as a more dominant trunkline/leader...?
Personally I don’t mind a bit of height and length on it, I’m not familiar with the species, but it reflects quite a natural eucalyptus form to me.
Interested to see what the more experienced have to say.
Dave

[boristhebadseed]

Hi Boris
Welcome to ausbonsai

Cheers Robbo63.

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[boristhebadseed]

Hi Boris,
First up, great looking tree. Love the material you have to work with there. I’m a bit too green to advise on achieving some of your longer term goals you identify, but I do see a couple of issues that I think are worth addressing sooner rather than later.
At least a couple of your branches are essentially forming a ‘Y’ in your trunk and disrupt movement/flow and will ultimately mess with taper that is otherwise off to a great start.
I’d suggest removing the first large branch, by which I mean the one one left in your last photo. I think if you reduced it to an appropriate sized jin is would suit the species and tell a natural story. Perhaps you are using it as a sacrifice, but I think it’ll have to go soon before your taper is spoiled. There is a smaller lower one that may still work to build taper in the right area.
The other Y where the top two branches split I think is going to be a problem too. If you want to keep a lot of what you have grown there, then perhaps you could reduce the foliage mass on one of those so the other can develop as a more dominant trunkline/leader...?
Personally I don’t mind a bit of height and length on it, I’m not familiar with the species, but it reflects quite a natural eucalyptus form to me.
Interested to see what the more experienced have to say.
Dave

Cheers DD

I have been considering these same issues regarding the Y junctions. I had almost chopped the left dominant earlier in the year, but borked at removing it at the time, time now time to reconsider perhaps. The other now has much better movement. I will make a jin as you have suggested and will post an update pic.

I am also planning to repot into a more shallow neutral cloured pot.

Thanks for your suggestions.

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[GavinG]

This looks more like E. polyanthemos to me, but I'm open to correction.

It has some lovely bark colour and texture, and some interesting angles, but the straight bits tend to get longer and longer as the tree extends. Pinching and pruning can be a bit hit-and-miss, but you should be able to give a real hard hack back to bare wood in about November (which is when I do repotting as well) and new shoots should grow well and strongly then. Pruning/pinching in autumn can certainly lead to die back, and worse!

Certainly with this leaf size you'd ideally be looking at a medium-to-large tree, in which case maybe consider putting it in a larger pot, hard-pruning once a year, (with root-pruning) then letting it grow long for the year to get some thickness into the trunk. Grow long, cut back hard once a year, and get one new interesting angle in the trunk every year - after five or ten years you have a trunk with real character. Dave's reservations about y-joints in trunks might not be all that relevant for Eucalypts - they frequently have short main trunks that divide into vertical sub-trunks, and then into more vertical minor trunks - just look around, you'll see plenty.

Best of luck. Don't be afraid to spend a few years just developing a strong and interesting trunk - what you have then is the core of a good tree for the rest of your life.

Gavin

[boristhebadseed]

This looks more like E. polyanthemos to me, but I'm open to correction.

It has some lovely bark colour and texture, and some interesting angles, but the straight bits tend to get longer and longer as the tree extends. Pinching and pruning can be a bit hit-and-miss, but you should be able to give a real hard hack back to bare wood in about November (which is when I do repotting as well) and new shoots should grow well and strongly then. Pruning/pinching in autumn can certainly lead to die back, and worse!

Certainly with this leaf size you'd ideally be looking at a medium-to-large tree, in which case maybe consider putting it in a larger pot, hard-pruning once a year, (with root-pruning) then letting it grow long for the year to get some thickness into the trunk. Grow long, cut back hard once a year, and get one new interesting angle in the trunk every year - after five or ten years you have a trunk with real character. Dave's reservations about y-joints in trunks might not be all that relevant for Eucalypts - they frequently have short main trunks that divide into vertical sub-trunks, and then into more vertical minor trunks - just look around, you'll see plenty.

Best of luck. Don't be afraid to spend a few years just developing a strong and interesting trunk - what you have then is the core of a good tree for the rest of your life.

Gavin

Cheers for the advice...will take that into consideration. Being late December now, is it too late to prune and repot now? My book suggests Summer is time for Natives.

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[Watto]

Welcome Boris. I usually use Gavin as my go to man for advice of gums but where I am it is not too late to work on them.

[PeterH]

Looks more like E.blakeyi. I started any major trimming of my Eucs in November.Any minor trimming all summer. Repotting of Eucs from November to January. All in a Canberra climate.

I may not be an expert but I have grown a few Eucalypts. Timings may be a little different in your part of OZ.

Kind Regards,

Peter

[DangerousDave]

Dave's reservations about y-joints in trunks might not be all that relevant for Eucalypts - they frequently have short main trunks that divide into vertical sub-trunks, and then into more vertical minor trunks - just look around, you'll see plenty.

Gavin

Agree ‘Y’ joints are common form for eucalypts and therefore one definitely shouldn’t necessarily be concerned about them for design in that genus. But for me, the angle in that upper one is too obtuse in this instance. To me it doesn’t reflect natural form in a large/mature/old tree. It doesn’t look like a branch structure that would persist to maturity, but rather one would lose out. Better to work that into the style in that case, I say.

But the tree, as is, is 100 times better than any of my eucs. So my intention is to provide opinion, rather than advice.

Do keep us posted, whatever you do

Cheers
Dave

[Pup]

Reading though the replies. No one has suggested, how to reduce the foliage as asked.
Not being familia with this species personally.
When I first became involved in Bonsai way back. I admired one in a collection of the person who was responsible for my addiction.
Jean Yates, I asked then how she had educed the foliage and got fine branching.
She told me by judious pruning of the LARGE leaves, leaving the smaller leaves to supply the trees nourishment.
This way the new growth was much like the ficus regrowth after defoliation. Smaller leaves.
I have tried this on a lot of trees that have large leaves, it does work, try it.
Cheers Pup
My apologies I just re read the posts, I still say try it.

[PeterH]

This is why I don’t give advise.There are more more growers out there with more experience than myself
Kind regards
Peter h

[anthonyW]

I don t think so Peter you are one of the most experienced growers of natives with Pup and Gavin and couple of others and gentleman to boot, so please keep contributing my friend.

cheers Anthony

[Boics]

Agreed, Peter your contribution is always welcome.
I think this has the bones of a great tree.
Lots of character already, I say grow and probably aim for a larger tree.
Keep us posted and welcome!

[Sno]

Hi Boris
I agree with most things that have been said . All the advise is good advise . Your tree looks like E polyanthemos as Gavin has said . I don't know if there is an Eucalyptus bonsai expert but Peter is as close as I have come to finding one . Proof is in the pudding . His trees are Stonk !
As for reducing leaves there is a thread here which shows really good leaf reduction . viewtopic.php?f=78&t=23590&start=0
I have a theory that it depends on how a Eucalyptus responds to fire on how it will reduce its leaf size .for example E pauciflora or Snowgum as its commonly known , in a hot bushfire tends to die back to the base and has Lignotuber growth from the base and for me it has not responded well to continuous tip pruning and starts to sulk and push growth out from the base . Other Eucalyptus trees that have strong epicormic response to hot fires for eg E melliodora have reduced leaves for me with the continuous tip pruning .
I am not sure how E polyanthemos responds to fire but it's important to have ramification ( lots of branches ) and a healthy tree to start . A very knowledgable Euc grower told me to avoid doing to much work while the tree is shedding bark .
Your tree has a great base and I am looking forward to it journey and seeing what you do with it .
Cheers Sno