AusBonsai

Hi all,

I just wanted to start a thread and get some idea as to wether anyone has tried Casuarina glauca cousin it as a bonsai yet.

I often use this plant as a ground cover in my line of work as a landscaper and have also tried at home to graft the cousin it onto a straight stem of glauca. I was unsuccessful but will re attempt next spring with maybe an approach graft method.

Has anyone experimented with grafing this tree or using it as bonsai.

Cheers

Squizz

Suprised there has been no interest in this plant thus far. I may have to pioneer this into the ausbonsai world

I tried to graft about five in spring last year using approach and side graft. None of them took and when the tape was removed on the approach grafts they just fell apart and did not bind. I was trying to get a 1200 high weeping standard out of them. Let us know if you are successful next spring.

I didnt think I would have been the first

If you get it to graft it successfully you might be the first. I hope you are as it will give me renewed hope. I've grafted figs, grevilleas, ground cover crepe myrtles, wisteria and liquidambars and others but cousin it has eluded me so far.

i saw this cultivar once, was going to try it but decided it looked too weak in the stem/trunk department, keen to see how it goes if you try it . If your using it often ,you may aswell try it for bonsai

Yeah good point Craig,

I have checked underneath the foliage of a few in my yard and its hard to tell where the trunk stops and the roots start.

There are none here of any significance yet. Craig have you ever experimented with grafting any of the casuarinas or have you not really had the need?

Squizz

Na sorry Squizz, no need to graft them here, but i don't see why if done correctly and carefully it can't be done. Another way might be an approach graft, may be more reliable. good luck

Ray Nesci has successfully grafted one into a standard. It's growing in his garden.
Looks pretty good but not for bonsai purposes.

Regards,
Steven

I have seen grafted weeping standards for sale at a local nursery. It wasn't the cultivar 'Cousin It' just a prostrate selection of Casuarina glauca. They are surprisingly common to find in the wild on headlands too. Don't collect them though.

Joel

I've been looking for casuarina here in the US for a while now, and finally found some at the store. Unfortunately, the Cousin It cultivar is all they have. Has anybody had any luck at all with these as bonsai? I might just get some to plant in the yard.

Cousin It can be grafted onto a standard understock....use Casuarina cunninghamiana because it doesnt sucker
The grafting is not easy even under cover in high humidity. Approach grafting with Cousin It in say a 7cm tube could be the way
You would have to make sure that Cousin It in a 7cm tube was always kept moist until the graft has taken. Then cut off the Cousin It in the tube and separate from the understock
I know its not Bonsai but I have a Cousin It Standard about just over 2metres tall on my nature strip. The head is about one metre round in 2 years and looking stunning. It should hit the ground in about another year. The cunninghamiana understock has a diameter of about 7cm