Need advice on the healhh of my Callistemon...

[Dario]

Hi all, this is a bottle brush that I collected around this time last winter (2010).

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That is a mini sized cigg lighter in the photos for size reference. Yes, the wiring is crap, but I have learnt to do it much better since then.
When it was collected I reduced the root-ball by a little over 50% and kept the remaining soil. It was then put into a soil mix of half diatomite and half standard potting mix. The photos aren't the best, but I hope that you can see that the new buds are currently swelling and are close to opening (another smaller one that I also collected at the same time has just opened its buds).

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Is it normal for bottle brush to do this in mid-winter? It is my first callistemon, but I assumed that this would happen in early spring?
My main concerns are that whilst there is new growth, a lot of the leaves are discoloured and a bit speckled/spotty?
Some leaves have been yellowing and drying and then dropping off over the last couple of months, although during this period it has held onto most of its existing leaves and, as I stated, has formed new buds that are close to opening.

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This confuses me as to the health of the tree....new growth would suggest that it is doing ok, but the condition of some of the leaves suggests otherwise?
The thing that is really worrying me is that throughout the soil there is a fine white growth? It doesn't look right to me?
I have read about beneficial mycorrhizas etc, but I am unsure in this case if this is what it is?

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Should I bare-root now and repot as the buds are swelling?, or should I leave it be?, or should I treat it with a fungicide?
I could really do with some help from the more experienced growers of this species as I am new to bottle brush and bonsai in general.
Also, I know it has a root that is sticking up etc and I wil probably be told to get rid of it. Personally I don't mind it although it may not adhere to traditional bonsai convention...what do you think?
Also, should the dead wood be treated? It is quite hard and at this stage and does not appear to be rotting.
Personally, I don't like the lime sulphur look (even diluted and coloure etc..) If I should treat it, are there any other options?...wood hardener?
Thanks in advance for your help!
This is my first post re one of my trees, so help is much appreciated.
Thanks again.Cheers, Dario.

[Handy Mick]

Dario,
Relax.
It's mildew in my opinion, it will be fine, just spray 30:1 lime sulfur.
Try not to over water and don't water the leaves in winter.
Mick

Edit:
Lime sulfur was originally used as a funguside in about the above ratios in orchards, this does not bleach the wood.
Lime sulfur is also used as a preservative, to preserve timber, which will bleach from a ratio of about 1:5, but if you don't like the color, change it by using ink or oxide or charcoal or what ever takes your fancy.
What ever way its good stuff, by the way, while you are spraying your plants 2 to 3 hits in 2 weeks, do your bonsai area and benches at the same time.

That white stuff is not mirr, however you spell it! I'm sure that stuff is only found around pines.

[bonscythe]

That white stuff is not mirr, however you spell it! I'm sure that stuff is only found around pines.

Fungal Hyphae are found around more trees than just pines.
In fact, I would be more inclined to suggest that there are very few tree genera in nature that don't have a biological association with one or more species of fungus.
Even Eucalypts associate with microbes which are beneficial.
Maybe the 'white stuff' you speak of is snow.

[shibui]

One of my callistemon had scale infestation and the leaves ended up blotchy like yours. New leaves look fine so don't worry too much. Remember also that leaves do not last forever. Even on evergreen plants the leaves only last a few years before they die and drop. The leaves you're looking at might just be older ones at the end of their useful life.

White stuff in the mix looks and sounds like fungal hyphae. Most are harmless, just breaking down the organics in your mix, some are benficial but I don't know of any associations with callistemon. Again probably no need to worry.

Dead wood on callistemon seems hard but rots in just a few years. If you want to keep any dead wood use a preservative as soon as possible. I use lime sulphur on mine.

Callistemon are not like exotics. Most Australian natives do not have to contend with a severe winter so they have adapted to shoot and grow whenever moisture and temp allows. Preliminary data from Australian Plants as Bonsai is suggesting that callistemon can be repotted and rootpruned any time of year. Try searching some of the excellent threads on Callistemon , esp by Pup here on Ausbonsai to find out many of the answers to your questions and much more.

Please keep records of what you've done to your tree and when so we can add this valuable data to the Aust Plants as Bonsai database.

[Craig]

Dario, i'll save you the trouble of looking ,here's a few from PUP,

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=2641&start=0 Callistimon Pruning

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=6600&p=75091&hilit ... ush#p75091 Refresher

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=324&start=0&hilit=bottle+brush wow

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=121&p=584&hilit=bottle+brush#p584 Pruning Bottlebrush


Enjoy

[Dario]

Thanks for the responses...much appreciated!
Ta bonscythe. Cheers for all the links Craig, saves me searching!
Great information Shibui! Yes, I did have to get rid of a few scale insect from this bottle brush, but luckily it wasn't an infestation.
I did have an issue with what I think was powdery mildew due to the unusual humidity last summer in Melbourne.
This resulted due to some miniature hot houses that I made for some cork oak cuttings out of coat hanger wires for frames, glad wrap and bound together with clear sticky tape. Some of the edges of the adhesive side of the sticky tape collected some airborne spores.
In my ignorance I left them alone for a few weeks and they quickly multiplied and went on to spread to my other plants.
It didn't help that I dismantled the makeshift hot houses where they were, the result being that all of the collected spores flew into the air and my surrounding plants!
I was very new to bonsai and gardening in general at this stage, and unfortunately I learnt a very important lesson the hard way!
Anyway, as a result of all of this, a few weeks ago I had to do some very fiddly work and pick off quite a few round black spores that were
over-wintering on the underside of some of my plants (in particular this Callistemon in question). Sorry no pics.
I thought this may have been grey mold at one stage because the leaves were not covered in the telltale signs of powdery mildew, however the trunks and branches were covered in a white powdery substance.
I recently read though that powdery mildew can create these round spores in winter (so does grey mold), and that it also can make the leaves curl up around the edges and turn yellow with spots. And that also the soil can have a white mold on the surface and through the first inch or two.
This was why I was asking about the leaves on the bottle brush in question looking as they do and also the sate of the soil.
Sorry for all the info, I hope I am not boring you all?...I do feel that it is relevant to the situation though.
Late last Summer and through Autumn when this was developing, I did try spraying with milk and a water solution as well as boiling Casuarina leaves and then adding water. I did each a few times with not much luck, and now think I need to try something more substancial before these problems exacerbate in the oncoming growth seasons.
I am unsure as to wether to spray with Kocide Blue Xtra or lime sulphur?
Shibui, I will keep posting the future development of this potential shohin bottle brush.
Thanks all,
Dario.

[Roger]

A great alternative for controlling powdery mildew is to spray with a 1:10 mixture of milk:water. Skim milk will do just as well as full cream.

This treatment seems to have been discovered in Brazil. I've used it on zucchini to great effect, as well as on susceptible bonsai. The Aust Natl Botanic Gardens uses it as its preferred treatment. It appears that it is some of the proteins in milk that kill off the mildew. For those not wanting stronger 'chemicals' it is ideal.

Roger

[Dario]

Thanks Roger!
Yes I had heard that too re skim milk.
Apparently a ratio as high as 1/3rd skim milk to 2/3rds water can be used (although 1/4 to 3/4's is safer from what I have read). Skim milk is better than normal milk as the fats can attract troubles of their own...
below is an exerpt from...http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/powdery- ... 1S.9xbnRqQ

"Milk is another very effective spray for powdery mildew. Mix the milk at a ratio of one part of milk to nine parts of water and spray weekly. Do NOT go higher than 3 milk to 9 water or you’ll attract other fungus problems that want to feed on the milk. Skim milk works well as it contains no fat to turn rancid (and attract other problems that like the smell of rotting fats.)
There are also products on the garden center shelves featuring jojoba oil and neem oil. I can’t speak to these but some gardeners swear by their effectivness for controlling powdery mildew."

I think I didn't repeat the treatment enough times (as I am sure skim milk works!), and it was a very substantial outbreak. That is why i am asking if I should try Lime Sulphur or Kocide Blue Xtra?
Thanks, Dario.

[Dario]

I bit the bullet today and decided to repot my bottle brush. As I stated earlier, allthough it is pushing buds, I was concerned about the multitude of round black fungal spores that were over-wintering on the leaves, some on the trunk and possibly some on the soil surface?
This was due to either powdery mildew or grey mould...a heavy fungal infection last growing season that I couldn't get rid of.
The white stuff all through the soil may very well have not been related to the mildew/mold, and may very well have not been harmful...possibly beneficial?? Oh well, it is done now!
I bare-rooted the tree to eradicate the original soil upon collection, but did not root prune at this stage as I didn't want to strees the tree too much.
I planted it in 60/40 diatomite and chopped spagnum moss.
Here are some pics...

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I feel better about it now...just hope the bottle brush feels the same way??
I will let you know how things turn out...good or bad?
Cheers. Dario.

[shibui]

Anyway, as a result of all of this, a few weeks ago I had to do some very fiddly work and pick off quite a few round black spores that were
over-wintering on the underside of some of my plants (in particular this Callistemon in question). Sorry no pics.
I thought this may have been grey mold at one stage because the leaves were not covered in the telltale signs of powdery mildew, however the trunks and branches were covered in a white powdery substance.

Without seing them it is always hard to make an accurate diagnosis but I have not heard or seen 'spores' like this. I'd still be leaning towards scale insectsand/or aphids and the white powdery substance on the trunk may be some sort of wooly aphid??? This could account for why the fungal treatment had little effect? There appears to be plenty of healthy leaves so it would not hurt to remove infected leaves and burn/bin them.

[Dario]

Thanks for all your feedback Shibui!
[/quote]
Without seing them it is always hard to make an accurate diagnosis but I have not heard or seen 'spores' like this. I'd still be leaning towards scale insectsand/or aphids and the white powdery substance on the trunk may be some sort of wooly aphid??? This could account for why the fungal treatment had little effect? There appears to be plenty of healthy leaves so it would not hurt to remove infected leaves and burn/bin them.[/quote]

Good advice...I will bin the infected leaves.
As for the white powder on the trunk, it is definetly not wooly aphids or any sort of insect.
Regarding the spores that I mentioned, some online research I have done states that Grey mold is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. This disease is often referred to as Botrytis blight.The fungus can survive long-term as hard resting bodies called sclerotia. These structures can form in or on diseased tissues and persist in the soil for long periods...these may be the black, round spores I mentioned?
Does anyone know where I can take a sample of this white powder so that it can grown on culture plates and identified?
Then I can hopefully treat it effectively.
Thanks, Dario.

[Dario]

Hi all, I am glad to report that this bottle brush has recovered well since I repotted it due to the fungal issues it was having.
Looking back I think I was overly worried...better safe than sorry though.
Anyway, it eventually grew well this spring and regained some strength. The regrowth was very leggy so I pruned it back quite short a few days ago.
I forgot to take pics prior to pruning though. Here is how it currently looks...

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I realise that this callistemon is probably strictly not future "bonsai" material due to the slightly strange exposed roots (I am not sure that it qualifies for that style?), but I like it anyway and have decided to not air-layer a conventional root system on the lower trunk (which would be quite tricky due to the natural shari.
Now that it has been pruned I hope to get some back budding in closer to the trunk to help me start developing some branching etc.
Cheers, Dario.

[Roger]

Hi Dario
Glad your calli is coming back well.
I tend to agree with Shibui on this one. It would be difficult to see individual spores of a fungus as they are really quite small, but then your eyes may have a special micro setting

Re your 'exposed root' design. Don't worry about it not matching a 'style'. Heavens to Betsy... as several of our wise elder bonsaiists say 'style abonsai to be a tree, not a tree to be a bonsai'. Those exposed roots give that plant great individual character. Your task and challenge are to incorporate them into the overall shaping of the plant so that it looks like a very old tree that has survived despite its hard life. Those 'styles' that are so often talked about were only ever created to allow people to easily talk about their trees, they were not intended to be straight jackets into which every bonsai had to be forced.

Looking forward to updates as your tree develops.

Cheers
Roger

[Dario]

Thanks for the feedback Roger, I appreciate it a lot!
Unfortunately I don't think my eyes are that pwerfull, but I did see those black dots...they were not insect eggs but as I didn't send them off for testing I guess I will never know what they were?
Due to the crazy humidity in Melb last year I ended up with both powdery mildew and grey mold, but so far this year things seem to be in check.
Whatever was ailing this callistemon, it seems to have passed. Although it did end up killing off one of the exposed roots that I severed above the soil surface. After cutting it off, I kept seeing the same white powder appearing around the cut for a while. I am pretty sure the root didn't die of root rot though?

Re your 'exposed root' design. Don't worry about it not matching a 'style'...Those exposed roots give that plant great individual character. Your task and challenge are to incorporate them into the overall shaping of the plant so that it looks like a very old tree that has survived despite its hard life. Those 'styles' that are so often talked about were only ever created to allow people to easily talk about their trees, they were not intended to be straight jackets into which every bonsai had to be forced.
Looking forward to updates as your tree develops.
Cheers
Roger

Thanks for responding Roger and of reminding me of what my task with this tree is!
I am planning on not letting the foilage get too far away from the trunk as I figure that it well help to highlight the shari and exposed roots if the design is kept compact.
Other than that I am unsure about how to shape the branches. Given what you said about incorporating the exposed roots into the overall shaping of the plant so that it looks like a very old tree that has survived despite its hard life...could you please give me any advice on how to best achieve this outcome? The only thing that stands out to me at the moment is to not have dead straight branches as the roots exhibit nice curves etc,
Thanks in advance, Dario.

[Roger]

Mario
Looking more closely at the pics, your tree looks quite small. If you want to keep the 'openness' of the exposed roots, then you will need to restrict growth of the trunk and roots. This can be done by keeping it in a smaller rather than larger pot. If you don't do this, you should expect the trunk to thicken quite a bit and the roots also. For the roots, this will mean the closing of the gaps in due course. But they will still show the twisting and bending, unless the whole becomes quite large. I can't tell which one is now dead.

You're assessment of the straightness of the branches is sound. Some more movement in them would not go amiss.

As for overall shaping of the crown, think about how your tree might have come by the exposed roots. What kind of situation would it be growing in for that to happen? And the two major damage areas on the trunk - they should be part of the story? What is the story that they could tell? That is what you might be looking for. Has that damaging force gone for good, or is it part of the ongoing life of the tree? Is your tree thriving strongly after the damage, or is it subdued though healthy? Answers to these will help decide how big the crown could be and whether or to what extent is should be symmetrical or assymetrical. Thinking along these kinds of lines might be helpful to you...

Roger