AusBonsai

Species: Casuarina glauca
Tree: (16/13-2)
Trunk: 10mm
Source: Grown from seed
Cost: Free

My first entry was grown from seed collected and sown in 2016. I did prick out a couple into their own pots but the remainder remained neglected in a single pot and were very root bound Hacked into the group and found a couple of trunks of the appropriate size. Here is the one I chose Since I had it bare rooted, I did some root work as well It is now in a colander recovering

My first entry appears to have survived its initial treatment and is pushing new growth. Also noticed that roots are already at the bottom of the colander! (Sorry about the dark photo)

Hi mods,

Would appreciate it if you can change the name of the thread to
[NATURAL] Casuarina cunninghamiana - terryb

Placed my trust in a survey report which appears to be incorrect

cheers
terryb

Already roots out the bottom!!?!?!
That was not even a month....
Nice job!

Ryceman3 wrote:Already roots out the bottom!!?!?!

If this one grows anything like one of its brothers/sisters that I gave a little root room, you ain’t seen anything yet.That is the best thing about this comp, we get to see a bunch of techniques and hear experiences for many different species that we can use to grow better trees ourselves. Thanks Rory!

It's clearly prime growing time for Casuarina! Looking forward to watching this develop, terry

Just letting it grow for now. Current height 1.4m

I’m not sure how cold your winters get but if my casuarinas get full sun, they continue to grow very well throughout winter.
Especially for both cunninghamiana and glauca.

It’s a great advantage over other entries. Can’t wait to see what your take on a natural cunning is.
Another entry I’m going to enjoy watching.

I find that Grant Bowie’s words of advice are so paramount to developing natural trees: “patience and the ability to masterfully do nothing.” is a great weapon of choice to see what develops.

Winter minimum here is generally around 5C (although we will have the odd colder morning) so I'm not expecting this tree to slow down too much given that it sits in full sun.

Rory wrote:I find that Grant Bowie’s words of advice are so paramount to developing natural trees: “patience and the ability to masterfully do nothing.” is a great weapon of choice to see what develops.

I'm quite good at doing nothing

Some good growth over the last 6 months. The tree now stands at 2.1m high and the base has tripled in diameter
I'm going to have to make some serious decisions on what the final size will be with this entry. Where to cut is the question.

terryb wrote: ↑October 17th, 2019, 12:26 pm Some good growth over the last 6 months. The tree now stands at 2.1m high and the base has tripled in diameter
14x19.jpg
14x19_1.jpg


I'm going to have to make some serious decisions on what the final size will be with this entry. Where to cut is the question.

WOW
I feel like you might've picked a good candidate for this gig ... superb!
I feel a big trunk chop coming on ... but if it grows like that you should have no trouble getting some great taper into the final silhouette by next month!

Great work Terry ,might have to swab your entry's . Cheers John.

Since I did some work on this tree over the weekend, I thought I'd post my update now.

Growth has slowed over the last few months compared to previously(40cm of extra height and some thickening). Before work, the tree stands at about 2.5m.
I have noticed growth slow in some of my other Casuarinas when they run out of root space, so figured I should have a look. Plenty of roots in the larger pot the colander was sitting in, so they got a cut back and the colander was placed back into the same pot in some new mix. I decided to leave a bit more root than I normally would to hopefully get it up and going a bit faster.

Ryceman3 wrote: ↑October 17th, 2019, 12:51 pm I feel a big trunk chop coming on ... but if it grows like that you should have no trouble getting some great taper into the final silhouette by next month!

I seriously thought about a big chop (and I know they respond well) but wanted to keep the fork and the double trunks further up that seem to be a feature of the cunninghamianas that grow around here. I wasn't sure a chop would give me what I wanted, so it got a trim instead and I'll see what happens from here. If I decide the tree is too tall, then I can always layer it at some point.

Responding well to the cut. Lots of new shoots to choose from.

October update
This entry sulked a bit after the repot. We had a far cooler winter this year compared to last. Finally, it has taken off as the weather has warmed. The small shoots around the previous cuts have grown significantly over the last month and my next step will be to select the ones I want to keep and let them grow on a bit to thicken. The branches will be cut back and hopefully will bud profusely.