AusBonsai

Hi all
New to this site and need some advice.
Bought a discounted lilly pilly at a nursery that had been neglected.
Trunk is approx 50mm and height is about 5 ft. A lot of dead branches but new shoots up top.
Just wondering if I can chop the trunk down low and will it survive.

gday mate

welcome to the forum, you will find a lot of info and people only to willing to give advice

as for your lilly pilly personally if it were mine i would try and get it healthy and shooting all over before chopping. i dont have a great deal of experience with lilly pilly though, other than being able to kill em

someone will be able to help though

jamie

Thanks for the welcome Jamie.
It cost me the grand sum of $5 so I thought it was worth a shot.
It was trained as a standard and if I cut all the dead branches below could be again but that is boring!!!
The top is shooting and it just needs re potting and a feed.
Was wondering if I chop it will it shoot new branches below the cut similar to other trees?

as far as i know bout lilly pillies mate is they should reshoot from old wood. so yes i reckon you could give it the chop and expect it to come back

hey crowie hit it in spring for the lot!!! chop and repot. You can get aggressive with the roots too. Nurse it and dont let it sucker, you should be fine!

Thanks for the advice Ant.
Guess I need to get it healthy until spring.
Need to control the urge to jump in and make a start!!!!

Funny coincidence, I go one from a nursery a week ago for $10, and hacked it back hard tonight

Pulled out of the pot, Cut back the roots hard and reduced all the tall whip of branches back to the stump. I left 1 whip that will be the future trunk with a few leaves on the top and another that will be the start of a branch

Once it starts to shoot, I will reduce both some more

Ken

Crowie wrote:Thanks for the advice Ant.
Guess I need to get it healthy until spring.
Need to control the urge to jump in and make a start!!!!

$5 i wouldn,t worry too much. I have done them all year round. they sometimes sook and then all of a sudden bang their on.

G,day Crowie may be this will alay your fears this was October last year. As you can see it was just a stump on the 29th of September actually.

Then I cut it and put it in a pot to grow a couple of weeks later It started shooting and has put forth heaps of growth since. Tomorrow when it is light and I have time I will post it as it is now.

Cheers Pup

Crowie wrote: It was trained as a standard and if I cut all the dead branches below could be again but that is boring!!!
The top is shooting and it just needs re potting and a feed.
Was wondering if I chop it will it shoot new branches below the cut similar to other trees?

Gday Crowie!

I wonder if there is anything worth keeping in the top section of the standard... Since it has likely been pruned a lot to achieve the 'pom pom' look of a standard, it is likely that the top will be chockas with interesting branching which might provide solid beginnings of a tree in itself. If this is the case, I'd look at air-layering the top off rather than simply chopping it and throwing it away. In my experience, Lilly Pillies layer readily, giving you a nice, even root flare.

Otherwise, you can perform a chop as has been suggested above. I would be hesitant to do major root work at the same time - perhaps save that for spring.

Let us know how you go.

Thanks.

Fly.

PS: Mr Pup - good to see the progress of your little Lilly Pilly! Proof positive that in the right hands with the right care, these are virtually indestructible.

Good morning Crowie, as promised here are the pictures of it this morning. Some more development and a bit of carving but by this time next year it should be good enough to show. It is 160mm high from the pot rim ( 6 and a quarter inches ). So yes you can cut them back.

But Mr Fly has suggested to air layer, that way you get a lot more bang for your $5-00 bucks

Cheers Pup

G'day mate, welcome to the forum. Quick tip, watch out for psyllids. Many varieties of Lilly Pilly suffer from this pest . leaves affected by Psyllids will often have depressions in the leaves and they can severely weaken your tree. Rogor is the best option for this but it may take several applications.

John

Thanks all for the welcome and the great advice.
I think the air layer option is the way to go.
Best case is two bonsai's at $2.50 each or worst $5 to try and save a tree the nursery was killing anyway!!!!
I saw a video on Graham Potters site about air layering, Having never done this before what do you guys think?

Crowie wrote:Thanks all for the welcome and the great advice.
I think the air layer option is the way to go.
Best case is two bonsai's at $2.50 each or worst $5 to try and save a tree the nursery was killing anyway!!!!
I saw a video on Graham Potters site about air layering, Having never done this before what do you guys think?

Do it it is real easy
Do a search for a post here by Fly on Airlayering, and I have one here too on a big crabapple

Ken