Digging up Bottlebrush

[Crown]

Hi All,
Just new to Bonsai and this is first my first post
I am after some advice, I have 5 large Bottlebrush "tangerine dream " Which I am removing from the my garden
I was thinking of potting into the Seasol potting mix, is this a suitable ?
Thanks in advance
Neil

[shibui]

I have not used Seasol potting mix but if you use a large pot you should be able to get away with almost any commercial potting mix. Trees in shallow bonsai pots require better draining mixes - not sure if that mix fits in the better draining category.

[Crown]

Thanks Shibui
The plan was to pot them up and revisit them for further work 1 year down the track ?
Do you think I should pot them into more "bonsai style mix"

[kcpoole]

Last year we coolected a heap of them ( in pots, but they had escaped). See the thread here
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18634&start=0

I pot all my collected trees into my own mix, and do not differentiate between newly collected trees, or "Bonsai", every tree deserves the best chance they can get, and a good soil / substrate will help.

Any of the Quality commercial mixes I assume will be OK, but you never know until you open the bag.

Ken

[shibui]

As Ken rightly points out it is so much easier if all your trees are in the same mix.
There are many 'bonsai style' potting mixes. Some of the commercial ones I have seen are worse than many commercial potting mixes and I would not use them for plants in pots let alone for bonsai but if you have one you are happy with and which works under your conditions then that's fine.
In deeper and larger pots you can safely use almost any potting mix so if cost or availability is a factor then any mix should be ok in larger grow pots. Sooner or later (provided things go according to plan) you will need to cut the roots and transfer your trees into bonsai pots when they will need a decent, well drained bonsai style mix. At this stage the older soil and mix will need to be removed from the roots. Will it be easier to use your bonsai mix right from the start? Do you plan to transfer some original soil when potting these up? - any newer mix will be removed along with the original soil so it won't really matter what potting mix you use for the temporary grow pots.
These are just a few of the variables and considerations so there is no 1 right answer to these questions and lots of approaches will work.

Good luck with the project.

[Crown]

Thanks Ken and Shibui
I had a good look at the thread.... Great stuff
I feel a bit more confident with the project I am going to embark on
You have both given me some good information
I will post some pictures once done
Cheers
Neil

[Ray M]

Hi Neil,
You have received some good information from Ken and Shibui. Another thing that I do when collecting is to soak the tree in a tub of Seasol before potting. I would use a ratio of 30ml per 9 liters. Leave it in the tub for 6 hours or so, then pot.
Make sure the tree can't move in the pot. Especially if it has some height you may have to put some ties on the tree back to the pot. The new roots are very fragile and can be broken very easily.

Regards Ray

[Crown]

Hi Ray,
Thanks for that, I will give them a good soak
Once potted up, is it better to keep them in semi shade?
Cheers
Neil

[Ray M]

Hi Neil,

Hi Ray,
Thanks for that, I will give them a good soak
Once potted up, is it better to keep them in semi shade? I would keep them in semi shade until you see some recovery. I would only feed them with Seasol until there is obvious growth. It would be good to see what Ken and Shibui's experience has been with them.
Cheers
Neil

Regards Ray

[Crown]

Thanks Ray, ken, shibui
The willingness to share on this forum is fantastic

[shibui]

Here I have never used seasol on transplants. Still very successful with transplant of many different species.
Transplanted trees go straight onto the benches in full sun, or when no room on the benches, on the ground beside the benches. Does not seem to make much difference to survival rates but that is here under my conditions. Others need to find their own best methods.
Callistemon are quite hardy so will probably survive under a variety of treatments and conditions.

[Crown]

Thanks Shubui
There coming out tomorrow!!

[kcpoole]

When I collected mine, I had them in partial shade ( avoided the hottest part of the day).
If you water several times a day, or keep them on a damp bed then probably does not matter much

Ken