White bottlebrush

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stymie
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by stymie »

Jamie suggested cage wiring your tree Naym. If you did that, the danger of wire biting in will be avoided.
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Naym
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by Naym »

Stymie, thanks I did see Jamie's post but not until after I left. In my last main update I used coils on the fine new growth but my 'normal' wiring is usually quite loose and at the time I did not expect the 'old' growth to fatten so quickly. Now I know better. I'm gradually learning how this species behaves.

Here is a picture of the tree before I started work this past weekend.
bottleBrush_20100327 before.jpg
As usual there is a lot of shoots from the base. In addition the growth of the canopy has added a lot of weight and the top bend has drooped to one side. I had decided not to re-wire the trunk before I left and did not get Jamie's suggestion to cage wire until I was gone. The shape is still there it's simply fallen to one side. The branch I broke last time (the one bending back on itself) had strong growth on it (despite aphids) which I think is a good sign.

So first I removed the shoots around the bottom, including the branch I had left until now. It's not growing in the direction I had hoped, it's awkward to wire and I don't like it anymore. I've thought about wrapping the lower trunk in grafting tape to try and inhibit all these shoots. has anyone tried something like this? How effective was it? Were there side effects?
I put some more wire around the trunk in the section that dropped and put it back up again. I tried reusing wire this time and its turned out a bit messy. I removed most of the wire in the canopy and re-applied new wire, even looser than I usually would on this growth given how quickly things changed over the last few weeks. This made shaping difficult but the main shape was already established, I just needed to tweak and hold for now.
I pruned out a few more branches in the canopy and clipped off the long leaders. I removed some of the foliage at the base of the branches because I will want most of the foliage at the tips to get my 'reaching for the light' look. I may have increased my sprouting problems by doing so but I want the foliage at the tip.
At the end I decided that the lower trunk didn't have quite enough curve in it so it got some more wire as well.
Here is the result.
bottleBrush_20100327 after.jpg
I still want to remove a couple more branches but want to think about it a bit and see how they all set with the wire. Also I don't want to make the sprouting at the base even worse by cutting too much off the top at once. I'll continue to remove the lower leaves as well. I need to go for another walk along the cliffs I think.
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by Naym »

I did some more work on this tree last weekend. It has slowed down a little but is still putting out new growth. The grafting tape around the base seems to have impeded the shooting I was having trouble with. This tree has been a lot of fun to work on and has become experimental. It's a style I have not tried before and I have been trying out a lot of new techniques and ideas, either recommended by others or thought up on the spot. Some have worked out great, others not so much.

I almost forgot to take the 'before' picture and so the wire around the second trunk bend is already removed in this photo.
bottleBrush_20100523 before.jpg
Previously when I removed the wire around the second trunk bend, it seemed to be stable but then suddenly sagged a few weeks later. This time I have tried replacing the wire with a thinner wire hoping that the tree will strengthen by have to bear more of the load. Most of the wire in the canopy was removed. I also removed a few more branches and some more of the lower leaves. The remaining branches were shortened and all the leading tips were removed to try and encourage some bushing out in the canopy.

This tree is still putting on quite a bit of growth and so even though it is winter it is still being fertilised with it usual fertiliser, although at a slightly reduced rate.

The result is starting to approach the idea/image in my head.
bottleBrush_20100523 after.jpg
It's almost a week later now and I do not remember what I was thinking when I left the stump of that upward branch there. Perhaps I was hoping it would form a foliage pad before the main canopy.


EDIT: I forgot to mention that that broken branch from a couple of updates ago seems to have healed. Although as Stymie pointed out above, this will only be relatively weak as this stage as I did not glue the broken heartwood (next time).
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Last edited by Naym on May 27th, 2010, 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
Naym
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by Naym »

Well after 6 months of strong and continuous growth this tree has slowed down for a rest. When comparing it to the photo I took a month ago nothing has changed. At the moment I'm just keeping an eye on it and waiting for the next growth season to start.
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by Naym »

Well this tree is still mainly dormant, with no new foliage growth. However there has been thickening of the trunk and the lower wire has been removed as it is now too tight. The photo below (taken yesterday) shows the tree looking as in the last photo, minus the lower trunk wire and the red new growth having turned green. The wire was removed a week ago and the trunk has held it's shape. Hopefully the top bend is ready to do the same.
bottleBrush_Before_201000808.jpg
The buds on the tips are swelling so I'll see some new growth soon.
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Naym
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by Naym »

There is now some nice red new growth on this tree. I haven't done any thing but pinch out the tips so far, but the wire will need replacing soon. I'm not quite sure how to proceed yet, so once I've looked at the tree for a while and decided what I want to do. I'll make a proper update.
bottleBrush_20100919.jpg
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Naym
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Re: White bottlebrush

Post by Naym »

I removed the trunk wire a couple of weeks ago and am pleased that the trunk is now holding its shape on it's own. Furthermore the shooting problems at the base of the tree are resolving. Wrapping it in grafting tape may have helped, but I can't know for sure.
bottleBrush_20101127 before.jpg
There has been some new growth and most of the existing wire needed removing. I have shortened the two longest branches and removed some lower shoots and forks, then I rewired some of the branches to direct them to the right and them some 'shape'. Here is the result.
bottleBrush_20101127 after.jpg
One of the things I haven't managed to learn yet is how to capture this tree with a camera. I don't have problems with my other trees, but nothing I do will give me a good photo of this tree. Hopefully I work it out by next month.

EDIT: Whoops, wrong 'after' picture.
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Last edited by Naym on November 29th, 2010, 7:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
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