Will it back bud?

[shibui]

I know some species back bud on bare wood no problem and i know a few that seem unable to back bud but there are many species I can't find any info about this aspect.

Many of my developing natives have gradually become long and leggy with bare trunks and branches. The trees are taking up space on the native section and not really going anywhere as they are. I've decided to bite the bullet and find out about a couple more species propensity to back bud and justified the experiment on the grounds that having crap bonsai trees is worse than having no bonsai.
If any of these survive they should be a lot better than before. If they don't survive the hard prune I will have some more space to do other trials. Either way we should learn something from the exercise.

I chopped the first one without taking a before shot but all the foliage was on long shoots way above what is left. Just out of interest this one was in flower.
leptospermum lanigerum 'Wooly Pink'

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More organized for the second chop so you get before and after pics this time.
Leptospermum grandifolium 'Mt Buller'

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Leptospermum 'aphrodite'

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This time I left a couple of tiny shoots with green leaves. Whether that helps or hinders budding remains to be seen.

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If anyone else has records of trials on hard chopping Aussie natives feel free to add so we can keep the info in one location.

[Phil Rabl]

I call this "rejuvenation pruning". A severe from in these cases. If they don't survive I guess you could call it a "killer trim". It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Watto]

Good experiment. What we can see now is that these trees have reasonable bones and now we hope there will be some meat on those bones soon. I will be watching with great interest.

[melbrackstone]

So many newbies (myself included,) have taken their pride and joy to a workshop, only to walk out with a bare stalk. This is a great way to show what's possible, especially since there's no info on these plants. Looking forward to the follow up.

[Stevie_B]

This is great.
I was listening to the recent Modern Bonsai (which is awesome) podcast and Josh was lamenting how little research on Aus natives there was in regards to responding to things like hard prunes and life spans etc. So anything to add to the knowledge base is worth it.
Unfortunately I can now attest to Leptospermum burgundy queen not liking hard root prunes either. <%50 was enough to knock it on the head dammit.

*bookmarked

[TimS]

If you’ve got the stock to experiment with than it’s well worth the risks of killing them however high as it’s all valuable knowledge.

Looks like what I did to Mum and dad’s lemon tree getting rid of rampant gall wasp

[greg27]

That grandifolium looks great after the chop. Fingers crossed.

[Ryceman3]

My gut feel and based on limited experience I give the L. Grandifolium and the L. Lanigerum a decent chance. I have no real idea in relation to the others as I’ve not grown anything like them.

In response to the adding of info, I can strongly recommend not chopping below green on Leucopogon Parviflorus (Coastal Beard Heath). It won’t thank you for it… or reward you with shoots, just a nice deadwood feature without any of the hassle of the living parts.

[shibui]

A few species that have not survived previous trims like this. Small sample numbers but probably still useful data.
Melaleuca blaerifolia has died every time I cut below green foliage.

Some that do survive 'rejuvenation pruning':
Melaleuca linariifolia
Melaleuca armillaris
Banksia integrifolia

[Watto]

As suggested by Shibui, I hard cut a Euc about four weeks ago and it has bounced back quite well. I know this is not unusual but just to document that this species does bud back.

[melbrackstone]

My own experience with Leptospermum has been petersonii which carked it after a root prune, but dealt ok with a hard top prune the year before that.

Melaleuca linariifolia - agree that it'll take a hard prune, also Baeckea virgata
Callistemon Capt Cook also.

[shibui]

Thanks for your contribution Watto. You probably don't know the Euc species but even so it is still a relevant observation. I'm pretty sure that there will be differences between species of Eucs just as I've found there are major differences in the Melaleuca genus.

Here's another renovation prune and repot.
I think this is Mel linariifolia but not certain.

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I'm confident this one will bud OK as I have done a similar cut back on it several times in the past.

[delisea]

Great idea for a thread. It can be daunting going for a heavy prune when you don’t know if it will survive. Here are some that will back bud well in my experience. Some are a bit obscure as bonsai species, but all are worthwhile trying IMO.

Angophora costata (Sydney red gum) – like a champion
Angophora floribunda (Rough barked apple) – sure will
Eucalyptus grandis (Flooded gum) – it will, but can drop branches and sprout on the trunk or base rather than where you want.
Tristaniopsis laurina (Water gum) – yes, but can be slow and best done in the warmer months.
Cryptocarya glaucescens (Jackwood) – will on trunks, but less reliable on thin branches.
Melia azedarach (White cedar) – absolutely, but be careful on thin branches.
Calicoma serratifolia (Black wattle) – yes sir, but only if the rootball is well established in a pot.

Cheers,
Symon

[Stu]

Eucalyptus camaldulensis (River Red Gum) seems ok with a hard prune. I tend to leave a small number of leaves for safety so I go semi-hard cut.
Brachychiton rupestris (Bottle tree) also.

[greg27]

For eucs, off the top of my head E. camaldulensis, E. victrix and E. leucoxylon all back bud like champs after a hard chop. Another vote of confidence for Melaleuca linariifolia.

Callistemon in general seem to cope fine with chops but I'm not certain of specific species. Callistemon as a genus is a bit fuzzy anyway.