AusBonsai

Botanical Name: Leptospermum sp. hybrida
Common Name: Leptospermum 'Aphrodite'
From: Bunnings
Cost: $10.00

This one says it is fast growing which is a bonus and the flowers look stunning. Surprised to see it say part-shade thinking that all tea trees love full sun.
Regards,
Dennis

April Update

Similar to my other two entries, since entering the competition, all I've done was re-potted into a larger pot and wired the main branch to add some movements.
The intention is to thicken the trunk so not much pruning was done. At some point, I will prune off the tallest branch to encourage a dense base.
I have absolutely no idea what to do wit this one but hopefully in a year or so, I will get an idea and will then commence training the branches to support the design.

For now, it will get plenty of sun light throughout winter and encouraged to grow as much as possible.

October Update

Since repotting in April, I have not done anything to this plant except to let it grow freely and have fertilized to help thicken the trunk.
Lots of top growth and extensions but not much thickening of the base.
It will be left to grow over this growing season before I look at some initial styling.

April 2020 Update

Again, untouched since October and just let grow to thicken the trunk.
I removed all the wires I added early last year. As you can see, it has grown quite a lot. I think it is a bit pot bound now.
Will re-pot late spring/early summer this year.

The wire I added early last year has created some movement in the main trunk.
The leafs are quite large compare to my other two entries so I hope to thicken the trunk as much as I can to create some balance.

October Update 2020

Again, not much have been done with this one. I noticed it is about to flower for the first time. Waiting for that to happen.
Not sure which direction I will go with this one but will have to come up with a design this summer and repot into a bonsai pot in preparation for next year when the competition ends.

I didn't get the thickening I wanted. With this being the last season for growth, I will trim it in the next few days and hope to get a design ready by late summer/early Autumn 2021.

Leptos often don't thicken really fast, they need repeated years of grow long/cut back hard to get anything much at all. They can get interesting angles if you cut to the side branches repeatedly, and take some time to develop the trunk in a complex way.

Keep hacking!

Gavin

Just remember, this comp is about creating a natural tree as a bonsai. It’s not about the thickest trunk, but rather the most natural looking material.

Gavin is right though, all my Lepto only thicken if you grow long without cutting back for about 12-18 months each time, then cut back hard and do it again....for about 15-20 years or so for something really cool. There are a few exceptions, but generally you need to grow long for Lepto thickening.

But again, a lot of Letpos in the wild don’t have pyramid trunks, they can be completely chaotic with long slender branching, or twisted and gnarled like a lot of the coastal heaths.

Thanks Gavin and Rory.
Great advise...
Need to be creative with this one..

April Update 2021

I finally styled this one in late November 2020. At the time, no repotting was done. It came back strong with lots of branches. Since then, I've pruned off unwanted shoots and kept the ones I want for both strength and shape development.

About two weeks ago (Feb 20th) , I repotted it into this bonsai pot (probably not final). Going from a large pot to a small one, I removed more than half the root (all roots that was deeper than the bonsai pot). Since then, our weather has been under 30 degrees. I did not see any change in the plant. It seems to continue extending the shoot tips. I think it didn't mind.

Styling note: I shari the main trunk and kept a side branch resulting in the semi cascade you see now. In nature, I noticed a lot of tea trees (mostly coastal) grow side ways and have bending trunks that twist and turns. I also like the way it presents the flowers in a cascade form. I wish I put more twist and turn into this one earlier as the wood is very hard. Bending a 1cm trunk is almost impossible. The other thing I did was bend all the shari to one side to give the wind swept effect. But bending is not easy on the thicker branches. To my surprise, they still set even without growth.

Between now and October Plan: I will let it settle and strengthen and hopefully by September, I have another chance to refine the style before final submit. I am expecting it to give me one or two flowers and continue to ramify though not much. I won't be taking back the shoots until September. They don't seem to do much over winter (all my natives) or any evergreens by that matter.

I think the pot is a bit big for this plant but I was hesitant to trim more than half he root system. If it grows back strong in early October 2021, I will put it in a smaller pot again.

Since March, I've continued to keep shoot shorts and the tree responses well with new buds and extensions.
As it gets colder, I will just leave it alone. Compared to March, it looks a lot fuller. No flowers though....maybe next year.

October Update:

Gave it a prune around a month ago in preparation for October but it wasn't enough time for the shoot to extend.
If the majority don't post new pics in April 2022, this will be my last photo as well. Thanks for organising this competition. It has been a lot of fun and allowed me to fall in love with tea trees and their beautiful flowers. Since this competition, I've been collecting different Leptos and now have over 10 plants to work with.

Without fertilizer bags and wire:

Progress update:

This little Leptospermum just keeps growing. I've had to prune, pinch and restyle multiples times over the growing season. I gave it a prune at the beginning of March to give it another chance to ramify. Height is around 14cm excluding the dead wood.
I probably won't get to see the lovely pink flowers this year given the constant pruning and pinching. Hopefully next year. In the future, I would let it flower before pruning. This is difficult to do while trying to ramify.

Here is my final update. Thank you for the opportunity. I've learnt a lot from everyone including myself.
Good luck to all competitors. Some beautiful bonsais created from this competition.

Oh I love this!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk