Metrosideros

[Matt S]

Last October at our annual show I was given this lovely Metrosideros, on the assumption that I would be able to look after it, so no pressure then. I was told it was the species native to Lord Howe Island, so I’m guessing it’s a M. nervulosa.
All I’ve done so far is given it two trims and a bit of fertiliser. I haven’t worked on this species before but I’ve noticed that most shoots are in threes and it back buds all over the tree including old wood. Shoots growing straight down are just as vigorous as those growing up and there’s a fair number of aerial roots near the base. Yesterday I tweaked a few branches with wire but clip ‘n grow seems to be they way to go to produce gnarly branches.
It needs a better pot but it’s quite healthy in the current shallow pot.
Any advice on these is welcome. It looks like a nice species to work with.

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Matt.

[SquatJar]

Looks like great stock to have a play with Matt, especially seeing as it was a gift. It ticks quite a few boxes with the bark, small leaves, branch structure and aerial roots

[boom64]

Great looking tree Matt love the gnarly look , nice friends indeed. Have fun John.

[MJL]

Hi Matt,

A lovey gift to receive to be sure!

I have one of these trees - see thread - Pohutukawa Metrosideros. Albeit it is taking me a while to find a ‘design’ with my tree, I find it a fun tree to work - very vigorous and it seems leaf size can be reduced as per your example.

Yours is a good tree already and I am sure it will only improve under your care.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Matt S]

Thanks Mark, that's a good thread, and a nice tree. I agree with your decision to remove the aerial roots too.

I'll have a look at mine over Winter and give some thought to the design.

Matt.

[Matt S]

I've had this tree for over a year now and it seems happy in my backyard with my water and fertiliser, which is a relief. After the initial thinning out I've trimmed it back twice, the last one being today. I'll keep doing this over summer and then next Spring I'll see how it looks before giving it another thinning out. I really want a smaller pot for it so I'll attempt that later in the year now that I'm confident I can keep it healthy.

metrosideros front.JPG

metrosideros back.JPG

I'm guessing it will only flower if I leave the growth alone but for now I'm concentrating on the branch structure.

Matt.

[Matt S]

I figured I’ve had this tree long enough so today I gave it some serious thought as to the preferred front and gave it a proper trim. I had to remove heaps of interior shoots and I took off some of the spindly branches lower down, so now the structure is much clearer. I’m not sure when the best time to repot this species is, but it really needs a better pot.

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Matt.

[dansai]

Looking very nice Matt. a smaller pot would really make the tree look huge. What size is at the moment?