Super Noob Questions for Red River Gum

[imemi]

Hi All,
So, I am a super noob to bonsai in general (I have a cheap Bunnings one that has been a learning curve) and I now have a situation. A plant grew in a pot that has a beloved pet ferret buried in it. We couldn't grow other plants in it (Kids, fires and floods didn't help) and this grew of its own accord.
Its name is Jett. It's nearly 1 year old now. Red river gum by app identification and from what I know. We don't want to remove it now. Kinda feel its fitting and would like to do our best by it.

Here's a couple of pics I will try to attach more. I'd like suggestions on taking it from here, pruning, shaping, growing and any other feedback you have. We'd like to get that trunk thicker and maintain it as a bonsai. I am so new to this and really want to get it right so feedback and input is welcome, even if it's just that I've chosen an impossible task!

[shibui]

Eucs seem to like Ferret fertiliser

Id of young eucs is notoriously difficult as the leaves change from juvenile to mature so take your provisional ID with a couple of spoons of salt. I do agree that it is some sort of Euc and we treat most of them similar so that's enough to start with.
Late spring and early summer is actually the best time to repot and root prune many natives including eucs so if you do want to transplant now would be OK.
To thicken eucs and most other trees just let it grow as tall as you are comfortable with. These have great ability to sprout new buds from bare wood as you may have seen after fires so when the trunk is thicker you can just chop it off at any height and wait for new shoots then let those grow to form trunk and branches.

Plants in pots, especially fast growing ones, need adequate fertilizer. Most of us try to fertilize growing trees every 2-4 weeks in the growing seasons. Use any fertilizer for eucs as they are not really sensitive to Phosphorus.
Water as required. That usually means letting the soil get almost dry before watering really thoroughly. How often depends on a range of factors that are different for every tree and every garden so only observation can help. As an indication I am currently watering my bonsai every morning and every evening through summer.
Eucs prefer full sun but that may mean it dries out too quick so a spot with some afternoon shade can be a good option.

Bonsai is not a quick thing. Good bonsai takes even longer. It could take 5-10 years to develop your little seedling into something with a believable trunk and meaningful branches but it can be done. You might like to browse through some of the threads in the eucalypt section under natives here on Ausbonsai. If you get really interested there is a native bonsai club, based in Melbourne, but they cater for remote members with videos of talks at meetings and a great newsletter. Closer to home Canberra bonsai society has some very experienced native growers and lots of resources.
Some of the Ausbonsai members are native fanatics and will probably be happy to help further too.

[GavinG]

What he said. If you want something interesting from this tree, you will need to root-prune it quite often - it might be better to disturb its relationship with your late pet now, rather than when everything gets completely entangled.

To make a good Euc trunk, with interesting angles, tapered smoothly from top to bottom, you can grow it long for a season, in something larger than this, fertilise and water it freely. In the heat of summer, cut the trunk back quite hard, plant it at a different angle so the trunk grows off somewhere else, and grow it long for another year. After five years or so you have something with some strength to it, and some interesting angles. When it shoots everywhere like a mad thing, rub off all but four or five buds - the fewer the growth points, the longer each will grow, and the thicker the trunk will get.

And good luck.

Gavin

[Phil Rabl]

Neil and Gavin, who have both replied, know more about Eucs than I do but it might be useful to have a look at the summary of AusBonsai posts on Eucs that I did earlier in the year. Here is a link to it: https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/view ... 78&t=28106

Good luck.

[imemi]

Thank you so much!
@shibui We figured that would be the case as far as ID especially as when it sprouted we were living in amongst she-oaks and all we can say is that it isn't one of those (had many sprout in our vegetable garden.) It is currently well placed then according to your advice as I've left it with the new veggie patch which gets regular watering and afternoon shade. I'll look into more fertilisers as well, we will need it for the veggies and other plants I've got as the earth here is mostly sandy and certainly lacking in some ways (my habaneros are turning yellow but the jalapenos aren't, go figure.) I really appreciate your advice on letting him grow. We've let him go for 1 year I can certainly handle the period of time I just want to do it right so I've saved all the advice here in a doc.

@GavinG - Thank you, I'm more than willing to disturb him but will probably be really gross and replant his skeleton with the tree if I can manage it. I'm trying to decide if I make it a feature or not. I'm searching for new pots and may have to go on a day trip out to some outlying places to find one that suits what you're saying. Thanks for the tips on the crazy regrowth too.

@Phil Rabl I love that summary, thank you. I've copied the info over as well so I can search it any time for anything I'm worried about.