Kunzea Baxteri

[Patmet]

Don't stress too much about it mate. I would just leave it be and rectify the mistakes next year. You just have to make little mistakes like this as part of learning it's not a big deal at this stage. Doesn't look too bad from the pics and that pot will be good to give it chance to develop more. In my opinion it's not yet at that stage where you want to get it into something really small or shallow. Fingers crossed for you it recovers well and kicks on.

[shibui]

Agree with Patmet. There's no rush to have a completed tree and the oversize pot will give you more opportunity to allow growth and development so just let it be.
You may need to remember to allow for the extra tilt forward when pruning and shaping this year.

In general another repot a few days after initial repot will not harm your tree.
Try to consider WHY these guidelines exist. After repot trees begin to grow new roots. We don't follow one repot with another because further movement may break those delicate new roots and set the tree back BUT new roots don't start growing for at least a week or longer depending on species and weather after the initial root prune so changes in the first few days should be no more difficult for the tree than the original repot procedure.
I've just potted up some Japanese maples that were originally root pruned some months ago. They all had new white roots emerging and all had leaves open so technically a very bad move but I expect the majority of those to survive and grow well this summer.

I would still leave your kunzea as is for this year just in case. It will also serve as a reminder to take a bit more time and consider all angles for future repots.

[Mickeyjaytee]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the in depth replies. Fingers crossed it lives. So far so good!

[Mickeyjaytee]

An update on this one. It’s not looking great. I think perhaps I’ve lost it? Foliage seems to be slowly dying off. Some new shoots have died but, some are still alive. Does anyone know aftercare for kuneas? I have it in shade with a little bit of sun in the morning. Before it was in full sun. I’ve been watering it no more or less than before. I have given it a weak seasol mist on the leaves to help get some strength in.

It’s heating up in Perth with 32-36 the next few days so extra care from the heat?

Any help would be appreciated

[Mickeyjaytee]

Well sadly I think this one is a goner. I’m quite sad about it. My bad luck with natives continues. I perhaps cut off too many roots, I’m not sure. I also wasn’t sure if Kunzeas like to be placed in a water tray after repot/root work.

It always seems to be the repot/root work that kills them for me. I haven’t lost any exotics though doing so his. Natives are a tough nut to crack for me

[treeman]

I lost my baxteri for no apparent reason after a few years. Of course there was a reason but I have no idea what it was. I also lost my pulchellas after a few years one by one. There is something about Victoria than WA natives don't like. I have a nice pulchella in the ground that that is doing well. It never gets watered and bakes dry in summer. I'm going to try again......

[BonsaiBobbie]

Well sadly I think this one is a goner. I’m quite sad about it. My bad luck with natives continues. I perhaps cut off too many roots, I’m not sure. I also wasn’t sure if Kunzeas like to be placed in a water tray after repot/root work.

It always seems to be the repot/root work that kills them for me. I haven’t lost any exotics though doing so his. Natives are a tough nut to crack for me

That is bad luck.

Maybe if it is definitely dead, and for the sake of learning, yours and mine, take it out and take a photo of the roots and see what people think?

Obviously you'd need a photo of the before.

My experience of so far on K. Baxteri is that they are very hardy. But I'm still in the very early stages (I planted from seed). Given I moved from a inner city tce a fantastic north facing aspect to an apartment which faces south, they are doing the best of all my plants (everything else is slowly dying off, especially after things like repots or pruning, none of which seemed to happen before, at least not at the rate now).

What does that mean, I'd be surprised if the shade killed it. Possibly water tray? On balance my K. Baxteri are dry (they are in regular potting mix still). So whilst the other natives I had under similar circumstances (eg Lepto's) may have quickly died if they dried out the K. Baxteri will eventually wilt a little and then come back strong. I don't think I have lost one because it is dried out.

I have only just repotted half of mine and moved into larger pots (the other half were done last summer), so we'll see how they go.

[Mickeyjaytee]

Thanks for the reply! So things I did do was put it in shade and water it a fair bit. I do think it may have had too many roots taken off.

It’s not 100% dead yet… before I repotted it was terribly root bound and the leaves hadn’t been healthy (slow sort of die back for about 1 year from the outside tip of the leaf moving inwards). It sent out new growth so I bit the bullet and went for the repot.

It was perhaps not healthy enough. That said it was so root bound I put its health down to that.

Thanks again

[dansai]

Don't be too quick to assume it is dead. I have a Kunzea ambigua that had dried out, then got a bad scale infestation, then dried out again. I chopped it back hard hoping for the best. It sat there doing nothing for over six months and I hadn't got around to chucking it out. Just recently it has started sprouting new growth again.

[GavinG]

Rory's had a number of posts that reference just how hard you can root prune at any particular stage of the tree's development. (He's a useful bloke...)
One of his main points seems to be that you don't take too much off the top, or anything much at all, when your root work is severe.

I've noticed that young trees in 8" pots undergoing fast development growth are far more tolerant of heavy work than older trees being reduced from relatively large root balls to small-ish bonsai pots. After losing too many trees just when they were starting to get interesting (yup...) I take root balls down in stages, and don't get impatient. Mostly.

Another useful trick may be that Leptos, which can be finicky with repots, will tolerate bare-rooting or a repot into pure grit to get the old rubbish out from the base of the tree, if you have them in a 2-3cm waterbath constantly after repotting, until good growth starts again. It gives me a heart attack every time I do it, but so far no losses. I haven't tried it out on Kunzeas, Mels/Calls and so on, but it's worth a try.

For exotics, like elms or maples or plums, if they're tough in development they're tough in a bonsai pot - for many of our natives maybe not. I'm realising that Acacias and Eucs with any age need more room in a bonsai pot than I will give, say an exotic (I do tend to pot tight, and repot frequently) - as they age, they need a bit more kindness, less gung-ho crazy.

We're still learning how to drive these species in detail - I think I've lost a maturing Kunzea because I cut it too hard too late in the season, and the Canberra winter has taken it out. Same species, next to it, cut just as hard at the same time, but younger in a 8" pot - roared along, no problems.

Best of luck to all, sharing information gets us somewhere useful.

Gavin

[Mickeyjaytee]

Thanks guys, heaps of useful information there. Ambigua is one that always kicks the bucket on me and I’ve thrown them all out… sounds like I should’ve waited

I have some ericoides seeds that came up (cannot find these in any WA nursery) so really interested in how they go and will apply the water bath.

My erubescens are still growing. They’re a little know lepto where I grew up with twisted trunks and flaky bark so maybe I’ll be a pioneer with those ones. Hopefully they make good bonsai.

I’ve put everything these past days I’ve worked on into water baths and so far so good. It is going to be 35 today so hopefully they do ok.

Thanks again for all the replies and info. I think reducing the roots bit by bit is the way to go.

Do you remove a little bit of the roots then wait 1 year for the next reduction?

[Rory]

Hi Mickey,

Always be patient after root reduction. So many times over the last 30 years I've been amazed at what has looked dead as a doornail, only to shoot everywhere.... but sometimes up to 8 months later. Some myrtacea varieties seem to just slowly lose all leaves as a survival mechanism when the roots are severely reduced, and others just die back a little. While some seem to just drop every second leaf as a way of reducing the workload on the remaining roots. Gavin is correct in that I tend to leave the upper structure intact, but I sometimes reduce the top to ensure the structure I want to survive is left..... I usually do this on stock that I know will dieback somewhat. I adjust my repotting plan of attach, depending on the genus.

Looking back at your original picture, your Kunzea baxteri doesn't quite appear in 100% health.
With that being said, Kunzea baxteri is usually very hardy from my experience. I've heavily cut back the roots and not had issues. However, this was done when the tree in 100% health and in the warmer months.

Kunzea ericoides is another very hardy piece of material. You'll be greatly rewarded with this species. Just make sure you give them plenty of sun and keep up the water to them, allowing them to dry off between waterings. (once they've recovered though)
I've overwatered, underwatered, severely neglected and continually hacked away at them, and they've always powered on.

The main thing to remember with rootwork on Kunzea and other similar varieties is not to strip the coating of young roots, as they can often be a bit sensitive once you remove the outer coating. However, provided you don't do too much damage and keep the water up afterwards, they should then recover strongly. Kunzea ericoides is a beautiful variety and probably my favourite of the Kunzeas I've trialled. They are fantastic material for keeping them as shohin or small bonsai.

And the best tip, is to grow young material where the roots aren't badly tangled or pot bound. This will greatly increase your chances of success and is easier to manage in the long term if you choose material that hasn't been sitting in the same nursery tub for years. The rule of thumb for me is.... if you can't push your finger deep into the mix, avoid it.

[dansai]

The rule of thumb for me is.... if you can't push your finger deep into the mix, avoid it.

Sounds more like the rule of finger than thumb......

And I definitely agree. Potbound plants left in the one pot for too long without root work done first for the most part spells disaster. I stick to young material now and do the root work from first repot. If I have a loss I haven't lost much in terms of dollars or time. Once the roots are good I can know work the top and be satisfied I can keep it going.

[Mickeyjaytee]

Hey everyone,

So an update… it’s sent out new growth which is really awesome stuff BUT, the new growth appears to have this slow dieback on it. Does anyone know what this could be?

It’s similar to what happened after the repot. It’s getting morning sun then dappled shade as it recovers. A tad worried it may not make it if the new growth buds aren’t too healthy. It seems to be happening to all new buds.

I’ve attached some pics, hopefully they are clear enough.

Thanks a tonne