Melaleuca Armillaris - Bracelet Honey Myrtle

[Webos]

Another species I collected on May 8th, this one I scooped up from on top of an old disused road. The road is now covered in soil/mulch and there are trees growing all over it. This one I just slid the spade underneath it and the roots were as flat as a pancake.

Does anyone have any tips for this species?

Thanks

[Kunzea]

Hi Webos
M armillaris can make a good bonsai. It repots quite well, but I haven't bare-rooted it, so don't know how it reponds to extreme treatment like that.

It shoots back on old wood, but I've found it to be a bit erratic. I've cut some branches back beyond the last green leaf and the branch died, while others have produced a few new branches below such cuts. I don't know how to predict which it will be. I see the same thing in street trees of this species where they are heavily pruned: some shoot back and others don't. Same thing seen in the wild. So you might need to experiment with your plant and see which one it is. Cutting just one or two branches hard, tended not to work, while doing the same to a lot of branches seemed to get better results. Perhaps there's a hormonal (auxin) response here, but I haven't enough material to do serious testing. Good luck!

I've found that it hasn't responded well to intense pruning while leaving some greem leaves, such as you would do to produce tight 'pads' of foliage. This just set the tree back and it didn't prosper. Or, with other specimens, the regrowth was OK, but not so dense as to make a 'pad'. Thus I've gone away from trying to achieve that form and opted for a more open, looser looking canopy.

The bark is well textured - a bit coarser than 'paper' bark, but not the really thick 'cardboard' bark of some melas.

I've heard that some growers have got theirs to flower, but mine haven't yet.

I'm also growing a cultivar of one (Melaleuca 'Green Globe'). It's a dwarf variety and looks pretty good. I also have a few from a natural, coastal dwarf that I'm growing from seed, but still only a couple years old.

I've found the branches a bit brittle, even when only 2-3mm diametre, so wiring them when young should be on the work program.

Would be good to see how you get on and to hear what others experiences with this species have been.


Cheers
K

[Webos]

Thanks a lot Kunzea,
What a wealth of information you are on this species. The tree was chopped back when I collected it so we will see whether or not it shoots back from where it was chopped.

[Pearcy001]

Hi Webos,

Just wondering how you ever went with your Mel? Was hoping you could share any information you may have learnt. About this species.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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[Webos]

Unfortunately, it did make it. I actually gave a young one to my master in Japan and 2 years later he already had some bones set up on it. Can't wait to see it again next time I'm there

Adam

[Pearcy001]

Where about in Japan was he?

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[Webos]

Quite close to Tokyo, in a place called Gunma.