Collected Casurina First Repot

[Bretts]

I collected this from a Friends farm. My memeory has faded but It was practicly growing in the river although the river had almost dried out.
It came out very easily with shallow roots. Bare rooted. It was a couple of hours that it sat in a damp plastic bag for the drive home and then potted into a hastily made mix of course sand I had from landscaing supplies (unsifted I remember because of lack of time) and potting mix Possibly also unsifted. Somehow the mix was still fairly free draining ??
I gave a dose of Auxin on occasions after this and it florished in afternoon shade.
After two years of good growth it has slowed wich has led us too believe it is time to repot. This is my first Casurina Repot so I give this editorial as giving as well as asking for advice
After removing the outer pot that had been there to make thye plastic pot look nice it is evident that it is time to repot. Ugg Slugs

[Bretts]

It is always a good idea to have your soil ready before you start repotting. I have various ingredients these days but I have found the most important ingredient in bonsai soil is sifting. Ingredients from left to Right Potting mix( trial and error will get a potting mix that is not too wasteful when sifted), aquatic mix planting medium (no real need to sift) zeolite(I would usually use more than this but it was wet, hard to sift and a bag of only 1-2mm from a recent pool filter refurbish), attapulgite clay and crushed granite.

I like to explore the surface roots when I am unsure what I have. This will give me some idea on how deep I need to make thy bottom cut. After scarping of the surface I was a bit confused on what I had so I cut off a fairly thin slice from the bottom.
I Find after the roots at the bottom have been cut off I can tease out the other roots much easier. The roots were more confusing than I antisipated and I had to think hard on wich ones to take off and where. The basic idea is to cut the downward growing roots of so we get a shallow wide spread root system. As with branches, stronger roots should be cut back harder than weaker roots to estabish a balanced pleasing root base. I found the roots growing down very close to the trunk and I cut of more than I would have liked for this first repot.

The pics go in oposite order??

[Bretts]

Pots ready soil is ready all is go.
Until the son wants a Picture taken of him climbing the trampoline back drop. Thanks Dad
I left this repot a bit confused were this tree will go. I have less taper than I thought and I may be changing my mind on the front I have some time to decide anyway.
I have taken to using Auxin (plant starter, seasol) to invigorate the root sysytem after repotting. I think it could be an important ingredient in Aussie native repoting and collecting.
I have placed the tree into my shade house for a coupkle of weeks. I will keep you updated on it's health.

[anttal63]

good work soltan well done. i like where you are going with it. give it time and you will reap the benefits of this. that wound will heal in time too dont be discouraged by it.

[Pup]

Nice start mate and don't start another one with Auxin's. I have always been a believer since I spoke to a guy that grew Roses for a living. In its life time a bush could be worth upwards of 50k so he used Baroca then started using the other one that caused so much grief. As I said good start.

[Bretts]

Thanks Guys.
Surely there is something I can be doing better?
It will be intresting to see where this tree goes.
I will talk more about auxin later

[anttal63]

solt i like shot 17 as a front, it shows good movement and taper. what i would be careful of is that straight bit at the top. where you choose the new leader to come off that bit to continue the movement counts. i would suggest lower rather than higher. seems to be plenty of shoots to choosr from.

[Bretts]

That was not my planned front Anttal but during the repot that came to me as well.
It worries me some when I style a tree for a couple of years and then find that it lookes better from the back

[anttal63]

im so glad you have brought this up solt. it is a very interesting point. it was the same for me for some time. now when i start trees i am always looking for where the base moves back away from the viewer. this creates the first point of depth as well as increases taper or perception of taper if you will. its seductive and draws the eye into the tree. where as ealier on i was too concerned about the existing structure and attempting to retain as much of it as i could. again the emotional baggage getting in the way. these days im happy to cut as much of the tree off as needed to give my trees this attribute. im not saying this is hard and fast for every tree. this is just my analogy of why many of my trees backs have now become fronts.

[anttal63]

going away and thinking about this further also brings me to the point; that when we first begin doing bonsai there is far too much emphasis put on not having scars in the front of the tree. more often than none there needs to be a chop in the front to find a new leader low down, in the back thats creates this line of movement away from the viewer. in our early stages of developing our trees, this should not be an issue for most scars on most trees will heal way before our tree even deserve to be called bonsai. and the ones that cant should be turned into a feature. or you build the tree from scratch by tieing the leader down and growing a new leader off the bend, building a branch from the old leader. but make sure that you can get that movement coming away right from the soil level. by wiring the trunk and bending it while bare rooted so as to get a clear picture. or / and when seting up your planting angle that you select lower roots in the front, higher in the back so as to tilt the trunk back. imo there is nothing worse than the trunk growing staight up perpindiclar and then moving. i got some and they annoy the hell out of me. so now these facts are crucial to me when im setting up a tree for the first time. sorry for the rant

[Pup]

I always look for the smallest tree within. Then in 12 months revisit. The first chop is better done on the side for taper.
Having said that it is as with most desingn principles in Bonsai not always possible.
The roots should be your guide as to movement. As with all things if I knew then what I know now. It is still a good start because if you dont like where the branches are on a Casuarina. Rub them off wait a week and sort out some new ones. As always Pup

[Steven]

Thanks for this great post Soltan!

Re the front. It's entirely up to you however don't rule out #19 because of the wounds. Casuarina have very brittle wood and as you can see below, they usually have big wounds on them in their natural habitat.

casuarinail1f.jpg

In fact I don't recall ever seeing a mature Casuarina without large hollows. I'd like to see you create some more Uro (hollow sections) on it.

Regards,
Steven

[Steven]

If you are looking for the rest of this post it has been split to here because it was more about soil than Brett's Casuarina.

S.

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi soltan,

I believe I am the boy with the smallest stature in this forum, but apparently you are even shorter than I am!

[Bretts]

That ones gone right over my head