AusBonsai

Anyone got any advice?

Seeds germinate without any pre treatment. They germinate quickly but are really tiny and then slow to grow.

The varieties and species I have grown are all reasonably easy to strike as cuttings. That gives you the option to grow some of the special selections and newer hybrids. It also gives you a head start with slightly larger plants. Cuttings often give a good radial root system right from the start.

Thanks Shibui!

I found one during hard rubbish and it’s really grown on me.

Great bark and great flowers.

I want more!

I often tell beginners and club members to look out for potential bonsai when friends and neighbours are renovating house or garden. Now I'll have to remember to add hard rubbish day as a potential source
Good luck with propagation. There are some great varieties now with pink or red flowers with green centres as well as the species with different white starry flowers.
L. rotundifolia has larger soft pastel pink flowers but I'm having trouble getting it to bud on old wood and to ramify much.
Some species have a reputation of not liking root work but the ones I have tried all seem to tolerate root cutting quite well.

Let us know if you come up with any interesting or innovative techniques with these.

shibui wrote:The varieties and species I have grown are all reasonably easy to strike as cuttings. That gives you the option to grow some of the special selections and newer hybrids. It also gives you a head start with slightly larger plants. Cuttings often give a good radial root system right from the start.

Do you normally remove a sliver of bark from the base of the cuttings?

I'm going to give (what I think is) L. laevigatum a go this year.

terryb wrote:
I'm going to give (what I think is) L. laevigatum a go this year.

DSC_0009.jpg

Anything's worth a try but I've found it hard to strike so far. And the only one that's worked at all was the dwarf form. (about 2%)

I don't usually remove bark from the base for cuttings destined for bonsai. I know it exposes more cambium so increases the rooting rate but for bonsai I want a level, radial root system so I figure an even cut will give me the best roots.
I have a few L. laevigatum that have been grown as cuttings so it is possible to strike. Mine are from East Gippsland.
When working in production hort nursery growing natives I was told they had observed that it was more difficult to strike cuttings from wild plants in many different species and genera. Cuttings from garden or nursery grown stock seem to strike better. This may be because wild plants are under stresses - nutrient/ water or possibly that there is a genetic predisposition and those already in cultivation have probably come from stock that strikes easier?

Good luck with the cuttings.

Thanks for the info Treeman and Shibui. Maybe better to either see if I can catch the ripe seed before it drops or just buy some tubestock.