J-root Mels

[SueBee]

I brought five tube seedling Mels - Thymifolia /Pink Lace. Repotted them into 75mm squat pots as they were badly root bound in the tubes. Three of the five have died in a week.I soaked them in dilute 1in20 Seasol before repotting and gave them another drink after. My mix is 1/3 cocopeat, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 coarse river sand. I did cut the J root on two but not all. Any ideas what I have done wrong? PS: I brought lots of other Mels and Callistemons and nothing has happened to them with the same treatment.

[delisea]

I find perlite the kiss of death. I think it holds too much water and roots rot. I have a massive bag of it if any one is in the Coffs area...
Cheers,
Symon

[shibui]

Nothing stands out from what you have told us Sue.
I would have done pretty much the same with any seedlings I wanted for bonsai. Your mix sounds similar to my propagating mix and should be quite good for plants recovering from root surgery. It is possible that it may be staying a bit wet but the other species seem to be coping and are presumably in the same conditions.
M.thymifolia should tolerate root pruning reasonably well because they grow quite easily as cuttings but occasionally a species just has some unusual quirks. it would take a few more trials to be certain but maybe this one just doesn't like severe root pruning. I cannot remember whether I have tried it as bonsai. We have some in the garden so I have probably tried but none on the benches which may indicate that they did not survive my attempts either which is a pity because they have really nice frilly looking flowers.

[SueBee]

Yes Shibui ,it was the flowers I liked, will persist with those still living but as Delisea says maybe too wet,will compare moisture with the live ones and see if I drowned them Life is about learning.

[Rory]

I’ve just purchased 7 different pots of Mel thymifolia so I’m hoping this isn’t a bad omen. The nursery had striking white flowering and pink flowering variants and also what appeared to be a dwarf version with much smaller foliage and pink flowers. The dwarf version I won’t hold my breath. I’m not a big fan of any dwarf variants from previous experience. But these were too hard to resist. The mess of crap after they flower is annoying though. Ends up looking like a birds nest.

In regards to yours suebee, from my experience, if I think something is pot bound or severely overgrown, I avoid nowadays. Too much effort trying to work the roots, and the amount of work required to untangle severely pot bound trees often ends up killing them anyway.
The only exception to this I’ve found is Casuarina and Banksia.

I have a few favourtie native nurseries that I regularly visit now, but I definitely avoid over grown material from too many bad experiences.

[SueBee]

Yes Rory you could be right- though why some and not others died so quickly will remain a mystery when all were treated the same.One in the ground is doing well well and also one in a pot.