Callistemon - health

[J-C]

Ahoy,

well - at first: sorry 'bout my poor english, I'm from Germany and not a native speaker =)

I'm quite new to bonsai - so I started to read a lot before I decided to buy a Callistemon. I decided to buy this one because I'll keep it indoors an I got a lot of sun there - which most plants don't like
Two weeks ago, the callistemon arrived and it looked fine - except the roots sticked out of the bottom of the bowl (you'll see it in one of the attached pictures)

Well - as i knew from reading, the callistemon need good watering and must'nt get dry. So I checked the moisture twice a day and wtered it by spraying the leaves and waterign the soil. Last monday i putted the bonsai into a waterbath - with bonsai-fertilizer. The soil was moist 'bout till wednesday.

The fact is - the callistemon started to loose leaves - the got yellow and dry and just fell off. And I'm not talking about 3 or 5 ... it's bout 20-30 a day... And even the new sprouts got brown tips.

So - well - does anyone what I can do?
Too much watering? to Less watering? Not enough light?(Cn't change that :/ )

[nealweb]

Welcome to ausbonsai. I no expert on callistamon but with any bonsai if the roots are clogging up the drainage holes they need clearing. I would be gently trying to ease it out of its pot and clearing those roots away to ensure good drainage as a first step and then hoping some of the native experts chime in
Good luck
neal

[J-C]

Hi Neal,

thanks for the advice - that's what i was thinking .. but i'm a bit afraid of that because here in Germany it's going to be winter - the cold season. And most Bonsai-guides tell me NOT TO DO ANYTHING before spring :/ ... but I'm afraid that it could die till then

[Pup]

G,day J-C when books or sites tell you that callistemon need plenty of water, they are referring to Australian Conditions mostly HOT and dry. Some of the other States have hot humid conditions.
When you are keeping them indoors they will not need as much water. Like all plants that are grown indoors it is a foreign environment.
So you have to make allowences looking at your tree it is in need of a repot. You say you going into your cold winter.
The tree will still be indoors right. So you can re pot it just do not water too much. The soil needs to be moist, but NOT WET.
That saucer you have underneath should have pebbles on top, so the pot is not sitting water.
The tree is pot bound that is why you are loosing leaves, I had this happen to one of mine this year had to re-pot in winter, with no problems. Our winter would be like your summer 23-25 Celsius.

Cheers Pup

[J-C]

Thanks a lot.

so --- i don't know. I've read that i have to keep it quite cool (5-10°C but with lots of light) in winter ... so - if i repot the calli - should i still keep it in cool & dry conditions? or should i keep it (for this year) im warmer (20-25°C) conditions?

I'm so confused at the moment sorry

[Joel]

Hi J-C,

Pup knows a lot about Callistemon. You are in good hands with his advice.

I was just wondering if you could tell me about the last photograph you took. Is it an HDR with high contrast? How did you take the photograph and edit it? It is really nice.

Thanks,
Joel

[J-C]

Hi Joel,

okay - so i'll order another Pot an repot my calli *sigh*

refering to your question - no that's no "real" HDR - It's just two different RAW-exposures of the same image matched into ONE - and the I improved the microcontrast and added some colour

if you are interested i can provide you the .NEF & the .PSD-File =)

[Pup]

J-C you do not have to order a new pot. What you need to do is take out of this pot, prune the roots and put in back in this pot with fresh Bonsai mix.

If you go to Australian natives, and look up Callistemon there will be some threads showing how this is done.

Cheers Pup

[J-C]

oh .. okay ^^

THANKS =) I'll do that

[Joel]

Hi Joel,

okay - so i'll order another Pot an repot my calli *sigh*

refering to your question - no that's no "real" HDR - It's just two different RAW-exposures of the same image matched into ONE - and the I improved the microcontrast and added some colour

if you are interested i can provide you the .NEF & the .PSD-File =)

Very cool! I like the shot a lot. I wanted to know the technique to I could try similar shots on my own trees. Unfortunately I don't have a camera that shoots in RAW, though I could try something similar by taking to photos of different exposures. Thanks for the reply!

Joel

[J-C]

So ... I immediatly repoted my Callistemon - look what the roots looked like ... the whole pot was filled! Alomost no Soil - just roots.

And - does anyone know, what these yellow little "balls" are? they were everywhere - i guess 'bout 40-50. I cracked one open - it's filles with some white-translucent liquid. Could these be eggs of some Insect? Or some strange kind of fertilizer?

[Craig]

Hi J-C, i think they look like the remaining shells from slow release fertiliser. Nice healthy tree mate , great work,

[J-C]

*whew* fertilizer ... =)

THANKs

[Stewart_Toowoomba]

Hi J-C

Welcome to the forum mate and to all things bonsai for Australia . A lovely little tree you have there. Did you purchase it from a local nursery or elsewhere? I was surprised to see so much root matter in the pot and thought that the seller should not have sold it so close to requiring a root prune.

Do you have any other trees that you can upload?

As Joel said - you'll get good advice from Pup. you'll find the membrs here very helpful. Searching the forum is a great way to loose some hours but gain some inspiration and knowledge.

Cheers

Stewart

[Bougy Fan]

Hi J-C
If you received the tree by mail that could be why it was rootbound. Some sellers don't like to ship trees any other way as there is less chance of damage to the tree during transit. Does the tree only get sunlight from through a window ? I would be a little concerned about it being cooked during your summer from the radiant heat. Is there anywhere you can keep it outside during the warmer months ? It is after all a tree which normally lives outside.

Tony