Eucalyptus Sideroxylon

[Josh]

I got this tree in Nov 2013. It cost me $4 from a nursery which had been closed down and was over grown. When I got home I repotted and found it had been potted really deep and had a thick base hiding under the soil (bonus). It has sat on my bench for the last 12 months growing nicely so time to do something with it.

1.JPG

2.JPG

3.JPG

6.JPG

7.JPG

8.JPG

11.JPG

12.JPG

I bought three of these trees, gave one away and kept two. Unlike most Eucalyptus Sideroxylon these have really small leaves. They never grow bigger than 25-30mm. Makes them great for growing as smaller trees which you don't see a lot of.

Josh

[lackhand]

Looks good, Josh. I've been looking for one of these myself. Keen to watch it fill out over the next few years.

[Watto]

Nice progression, loved it. Great looking tree so I'm hopeful to see it mature over time. Well done.

[izzykay]

Good score mate, Nice trunk. Amazing what can be hiding under the soil.

[Josh]

Thanks for the comments. This tree puts a lot of growth wanting to grow steaight up so hoping I can control the growth a bit better now and develop the branching over the next couple of years. I couldn't believe how deep the tree was planted in the pot or what was hiding under the soil. The leaves seen to stay small to so that's a bonus. I'll grow the branches out and try to get ramifacation on them now. Will update as I go.

Cheers
Josh

Oh and happy new year.

[PeterH]

Josh ,

Good find. At what stage do you expect the adult bark to start developing. Why I ask is that mine has taken around 10 to 12 years grown on in a large pot.
It will be interesting to see whether it will develop the bark if kept at that size.

Regards,

Peter

[Josh]

Josh ,

Good find. At what stage do you expect the adult bark to start developing. Why I ask is that mine has taken around 10 to 12 years grown on in a large pot.
It will be interesting to see whether it will develop the bark if kept at that size.

Regards,

Peter

That's a good question Peter and one I'm not sure of the answer to. One of the main problems with keeping eucy's small is your constantly trimming and so you continually have young growth. We had this discussion at our native club meeting a while back. There were a lot of eucy's on display but most had immature foliage because of constant trimming. Bark is slightly different as you can get older branches and this get barking up. I have another eucy which is peeling all its bark at the moment and great. It's about 5-8 years old. Will be interesting to see how it goes getting it to bark up.

Josh.

[Josh]

Time for an update on this eucy. It was displayed at the native symposium on Australia natives as bonsai recently at the Botanical Gardens. It was the only eucalyptus under 30cm, in fact probably the only tree under 1 mtr
About two weeks before the symposium it started peeling the heavy dark bark and reveal the lovely red iron bark just in time. The leaves are still small on this tree and do not get any bigger than 1-2 cm. I have not defoliated the tree at all yet the leaves stay small. I have had a nursery near work trying to propagate some cutting but hasn't had any luck yet.

13.JPG

18.JPG

20.JPG

Not sure yet if it will stay in this rock or not. Pup suggested possibly a smaller pot would make it look more powerful and not get lost so maybe, but its happy for now and so am I.

Josh

[Elmar]

Very nice tree, mate!


Cheers
Elmar

[hugh grant]

I agree a smaller container will make this tree shine much better, it gets very lost in the rock. which compared to the tree is rather dull. The tree has some really lovely natural characteristics, even though it is so small, that would be great to see made the most of.

nice tree !

Hugh

[Rory]

It was the only eucalyptus under 30cm, in fact probably the only tree under 1 mtr

funny.

On a side note...sorry, just my brain, but that last pic looks like an upright seated frog with a fancy dress hat.

I too think it is wasted on that slab. Love the trunk Josh. Ramify the heck out of it and keep it small, and then in time this will be a great tree.
Yeah, if you are going to change its pot, I wouldn't do it until Summer.

Plus, I think Eucs look especially beautiful when they are peeling, in other words ; they look amazing as it enhances the aged look if the bark isn't all peeled, and is much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Just my

[WoodWizard]

I've grown sideroxolyn wholesale for many years and now makes me think how many great trees I could of attempted to bonsai !! I wonder if it's a straight sideroxolyn or a rosea, how many times have you defoliated?? Fantastic tree I'm so jealous

[Josh]

I agree a smaller container will make this tree shine much better, it gets very lost in the rock. which compared to the tree is rather dull. The tree has some really lovely natural characteristics, even though it is so small, that would be great to see made the most of.

nice tree !

Hugh

Thanks Hugh, thinking its going into a pot but where am I going to find a pot

It was the only eucalyptus under 30cm, in fact probably the only tree under 1 mtr

funny.

On a side note...sorry, just my brain, but that last pic looks like an upright seated frog with a fancy dress hat.

I too think it is wasted on that slab. Love the trunk Josh. Ramify the heck out of it and keep it small, and then in time this will be a great tree.
Yeah, if you are going to change its pot, I wouldn't do it until Summer.

Plus, I think Eucs look especially beautiful when they are peeling, in other words ; they look amazing as it enhances the aged look if the bark isn't all peeled, and is much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Just my

Yeah tree won't get repotted till its warmer. It's buds out fairly easy so it should ramify easy enough. I have another eucy which peeled and looked amazing. The bark on this tree was really thick and didn't peel like they do normally. It just kind of came loose and fell off. Most of the trunk was buried in the pot so didn't look that nice compared to the new bark

I've grown sideroxolyn wholesale for many years and now makes me think how many great trees I could of attempted to bonsai !! I wonder if it's a straight sideroxolyn or a rosea, how many times have you defoliated?? Fantastic tree I'm so jealous

Thanks Woodwizard. It is "Rosea". This tree has never been defoliated. It's leaves are small naturally. It's a great little tree and I'm very happy with it considering it only cost me $4.

Josh.

[Isitangus]

Let me start by saying great bones of the tree. I agree I think a new pot-perhaps needs to be a custom comission from an Aussie potter, would help set off the look. In addition for me I would lose the moss, and perhaps when it comes to display you could add some of the scattered peeling bark to make it look like a tree in the wild.
Just my 2c but whichever way you go I look forward to seeing it progress


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WoodWizard]

This tree has never been defoliated. It's leaves are small naturally. It's a great little tree and I'm very happy with it considering it only cost me $4.

Josh.[/quote]

Wow !! Leaves on sideroxolyns naturally are much bigger than this id say comfortably double the size of yours, that's why I defiantly thought u must have defoliated, could be a seed
Variant that has worked into your favour !!! Jealous , we would do batches of 300 in 40cm pots and the variance between leaf size and even tree shape was huge ( much to the dismay of picky clients ) some would almost look exactly like a
Euc melliodora. This is why I love eucalyptus trees !!!!