Good time for potting Natives

[Grant Bowie]

Hi all,

Here in Canberra it is time for Starting repotting of natives. I have Casuarina, callitris, Leptospermum, Kunzea and Baekea ready for repotting. I don’t have any Eucs and speaking with Gavin G today its still a bit early for them.

Oh, and Banksia of course, although I have done some early repotting of Banksia this year.

Will post in each species section as we go on.

Grant

[Grant Bowie]

Oops, I mis-spoke.

I do have a eucalyptus, Eucalyptus vernicosa or varnished gum (from Tasmania). Best potting time for them in canberra ? Who knows. I think now would be fine. so far it has been tough and lasted a number of seasons but it is slow ; and I mean SLOOOOOOW.

I also have a podocarpus and grevillea or two.

grant

[PWC]

I'll be watching with interest, I have some of the above mentioned and this will be the first time repotting for me. Will you be doing root work at the same time?

[melbrackstone]

I'm glad you brought that up Grant. Here in Brisbane many of my natives are producing their second flush of new growth since Winter. I repotted quite a few in August/September, but those I missed are going to have to wait, I reckon. The soft new growth is what's stopping me. Would you agree?

[Grant Bowie]

Yes, Brisbane is another world when it comes to foliage growth and dormancies, Good luck with all.

grant

[Grant Bowie]

And yes I will be doing mostly root work, not too much top fiddling. I like to repot with plenty of foliage as it makes the tree bed in quickly , then I will wait months before I do any serious top work .

Grant

[melbrackstone]

Thanks Grant. I've learned the hard way following recommendations from the wrong climate zones.... Agree about not doing much top work too!

[shibui]

I'm quite happy to reopt and root prune when my natives have new growth on. I tried waiting for dormancy for many years but it never seems to happen. Eventually in desperation I tried repotting while they were actively growing and there was no adverse reaction so now I routinely work them whatever the top is doing - as long as the weather is warm and the tree is active it seems to be OK.
I've also repotted a couple of figs and melaleucas but, like Grant, I think next month or so is prime time for the rest of them

[Rory]

And yes I will be doing mostly root work, not too much top fiddling. I like to repot with plenty of foliage as it makes the tree bed in quickly , then I will wait months before I do any serious top work .

Yeah this is very good advice for natives. I wish I'd known this 20 years ago... would have saved a lot of heartache.

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I'm quite happy to reopt and root prune when my natives have new growth on. I tried waiting for dormancy for many years but it never seems to happen.

Casuarina have two settings.... Fast, and Not as fast

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Essentially, (in my experience), I find a lot of natives okay to start repotting when overnight temps don't fall below about 10 degrees.

Although, with the winter-flowering species I prefer to repot them either at the end of winter or right at the start of Spring, but only when they have started putting out new growth for a few weeks, which for many Leptos and Beackea can be mid Winter (nights as low as 5 easily). I have found that these type of species don't do so well if you repot in the late Spring or throughout Summer.
With Leptospermum I do not repot these in Summer anymore. I only repot Leptos in late Winter or Spring, depending on the variety. The cooler climate ones I repot in late winter, and the others I repot in mid to late Spring.

I actually find I get better results from a repot when the material is pushing out a lot of new growth, as its actively growing and doesn't sulk afterwards. Provided you don't take off a drastic amount of roots, then it usually recovers a lot quicker. If the material is fairly dormant, personally I would not repot any natives. I find that philosophy is best left to the exotics.

With figs, I wait until they are pushing out new leaves from the same terminal bud every few days and then you know you're good to go.

Casuarina are a world apart. You can repot these during a nuclear war, but I try not to do them in winter, as they can still sulk.

Banksia are similar, in that you shouldn't repot in winter, as they can badly sulk, (sometimes very badly), and then root rot can set in.
When I repot Banksia now, I hardly touch the foliage, I cut the crap off the roots, and let the full head of foliage feed the new roots. Its amazing how quick a Banksia can recover when you do this. I would not repot a Banksia if it is dormant. This is a big no-no as far as I'm concerned.

With Eucalyptus I have never had a great deal of luck repotting in early to mid Spring, they go okay, but generally for Sydney climate, Mid November is definitely the time to start Eucs. (basiscally when overnight temps are starting to remain about 20 degrees. But with Eucs, I do trim the tops a bit, otherwise they can die-back a bit, and then you're at the mercy of the bonsai gods as to which sections die back if you haven't trimmed them.

Melaleuca I find depends on the species. There is no blanket assessment I have for Mels, as I've had good results and bad results with mass trials from the same repotted times. I find with Mels they can be a little temperamental if you repot them right when the new growth is soft and hasn't slightly hardened off yet.

[Brekel]

Essentially, (in my experience), I find a lot of natives okay to start repotting when overnight temps don't fall below about 10 degrees...

According to BOM statistics, 10% of nights at the height of summer still fall at or below 8.7°C in Hobart.
Looks like I'm never repotting my natives

Our local species are more adapted to cold nights and cope ok.

[Rory]

Essentially, (in my experience), I find a lot of natives okay to start repotting when overnight temps don't fall below about 10 degrees...

According to BOM statistics, 10% of nights at the height of summer still fall at or below 8.7°C in Hobart.
Looks like I'm never repotting my natives

Our local species are more adapted to cold nights and cope ok.

Hahaha. I’ve often wondered how well some of my natives would fair in your conditions. I’ve repotted many natives when nights drop to about 4, but I just find you get better results and they recover quicker when above 10 degrees, on average.

My winter flowering species would thrive in tasy I think

Figs being the only exception.

[Brekel]

I repotted a couple of Melaleuca pustulata in early September. They barely blinked and are putting out new growth. I went fairly light on the roots though as it's the first root work they've had and I didn't want to take too big a risk.
Speaking to some other guys down here who have a bit of experience, Oct seems a good time for many of our local species.

[GBarb]

Hi Grant,

Good info, thanks.

Here on the mid north coast (port Macquarie) I started repotting a month or so ago, party through climate, party through need as most of my trees being neglected for quite a few years needed new substrate.

I repotted a callistemon about 6 weeks ago and did some quite heavy work with carving and trimming and it hasn’t missed a beat, outing on a lot of new growth.

However, it is a callistemon, they vary rarely miss any beats.

[GavinG]

Here in Canberra I've just finished repotting natives now - I do it when they are showing signs of growth. I cut the tops hard when I cut roots, which possibly explains my 100% failure rate with Grevilleas and Banksias... I have a couple that I will be trying to channel Rory being kind, we'll see how that goes. I like to cut hard because most of the small-leafed stuff doesn't reshoot from old wood, and I like to keep things compact. Also I like to build trunks by clip and grow - get angles rather than bends - so a lot of foliage tends to get cut.

Eucs are another world - late-ish November or December, up near 30degC through the day. I've heard that you don't repot when bark is peeling, but it usually happens about the same time. and seems to have no bad effect for me. Cut hard, go crazy, look for interesting angles - they show reliable shooting from bare wood, then you rub off 99% of the shoots that emerge - carefully!

Small-leafed Eucs with short internodes that grow strongly down here are E. crenulata, E. bridgesiana, E, cineria, maybe E. rubida. I'd like to get five of each, every year from now until I die, to explore all the possibilities of trunk shapes. Not possible realistically, but hey...

Gavin

[Keels]

Here in Canberra I've just finished repotting natives now - I do it when they are showing signs of growth. I cut the tops hard when I cut roots, which possibly explains my 100% failure rate with Grevilleas and Banksias...

Gav, I re-potted my Grevilleas two weeks ago and everything was going so well so I thought I'd fertilize them......I like to push the boundaries with my fertilizing but looks like Grevilleas like to push that extra fertilizer to the tips of their leaves.... such a rookie mistake the tips have all gone brown and the 85% of leaves have fallen off. There is still hope some might pull through