A couple of Leptos

[DavidWilloughby]

Hi all,

I thought I would post up a couple of Leptospermum's I have been working on of late.

This first lepto is Leptospermum trinvervium, common names : Flakey-barked Tea tree / Slender Tea tree and it was collected from a private property in the Blue Mountains over 12 months ago by a friend. I got itchy fingers and decided to wire some of it and put it into a Bonsai pot (don't get me wrong, I do not consider this a Bonsai yet) and will let it establish itself in the pot first before working on it again. Since it was potted up on March 3, currently it is pushing new buds everywhere and is enjoying its new home (it was a spare pot that it could fit in, not an ideal choice but will do for the time being). It has flowered once since it came into my possession. I am also using this as a learner with how they respond.

Lepto 14 Dec 13 A.jpg

*14 Dec 2013

Lepto 3 March 2014.jpg

*3 Marc 2014

The next one is a Leptospermum scoparium or commonly known as NZ Tea tree, that I bought as a small nursery plant in early December last year. I potted it up March 3 this year to see how it would react and it seems to have pulled through the potting stage as its putting out new growth everywhere. It has been sitting in a water tray since.

L.s 1 December 2013.jpg

* 1 December 2013 (as I got it)

LS 25 March 2014.jpg

* 25 March 2014 (it survived potting)

The next one is another Leptospermum trinvervium that a friend gave to me, I have had it for a few months and had it sitting about waiting on me to do something with it. While it could do with more time in a grow tub, again as a tester I decided to pot it up recently and see what would become of it. Once again, I do not consider this a Bonsai as yet, perhaps in a few years time once it has established itself more and grown, I might be able to consider calling it a Bonsai then.

Lepto 16 June 2013.jpg

*16 June 2013 (not long after I got it)

Lepto 25 March 2014 B.jpg

*25 March 2014 (potted up)

The last one for the time being is one that is only a few months from collection, it is another L. trinervium that I found interesting as it had two dead trunks that I will do my best to retain. The left dead trunk was longer but broke off during transit (oops.....) I will sit on it for a year and let it recover before doing anything with it, the only I have done to it is put lime sulpher on the dead trunks.

Lepto3 3 March 2014.jpg

*3 March 2014 (collected in Jan)

It will be interesting to see how each of these go in the next few years. Thoughts and comments are welcomed.

Cheers

David

[Jason]

Very nice! I particularly like the L. scoparium

[ric]

Hi all,

I thought I would post up a couple of Leptospermum's I have been working on of late.

This first lepto is Leptospermum trinvervium, common names : Flakey-barked Tea tree / Slender Tea tree and it was collected from a private property in the Blue Mountains over 12 months ago by a friend. I got itchy fingers and decided to wire some of it and put it into a Bonsai pot (don't get me wrong, I do not consider this a Bonsai yet) and will let it establish itself in the pot first before working on it again. Since it was potted up on March 3, currently it is pushing new buds everywhere and is enjoying its new home (it was a spare pot that it could fit in, not an ideal choice but will do for the time being). It has flowered once since it came into my possession. I am also using this as a learner with how they respond.

Lepto 14 Dec 13 A.jpg

*14 Dec 2013

Lepto 3 March 2014.jpg

*3 Marc 2014

The next one is a Leptospermum scoparium or commonly known as NZ Tea tree, that I bought as a small nursery plant in early December last year. I potted it up March 3 this year to see how it would react and it seems to have pulled through the potting stage as its putting out new growth everywhere. It has been sitting in a water tray since.

L.s 1 December 2013.jpg

* 1 December 2013 (as I got it)

LS 25 March 2014.jpg

* 25 March 2014 (it survived potting)

The next one is another Leptospermum trinvervium that a friend gave to me, I have had it for a few months and had it sitting about waiting on me to do something with it. While it could do with more time in a grow tub, again as a tester I decided to pot it up recently and see what would become of it. Once again, I do not consider this a Bonsai as yet, perhaps in a few years time once it has established itself more and grown, I might be able to consider calling it a Bonsai then.

Lepto 16 June 2013.jpg

*16 June 2013 (not long after I got it)

Lepto 25 March 2014 B.jpg

*25 March 2014 (potted up)

The last one for the time being is one that is only a few months from collection, it is another L. trinervium that I found interesting as it had two dead trunks that I will do my best to retain. The left dead trunk was longer but broke off during transit (oops.....) I will sit on it for a year and let it recover before doing anything with it, the only I have done to it is put lime sulpher on the dead trunks.

Lepto3 3 March 2014.jpg

*3 March 2014 (collected in Jan)

It will be interesting to see how each of these go in the next few years. Thoughts and comments are welcomed.

Cheers

David

That is very interesting ,David nice to see some Australian native Leptospermum becoming Bonsai please keep posting the progress
ric

[Ash]

Very nice, particularly like the little L. scoparium. It has a reputation for being tricky (which luckily has not been my experience). Did it slow down much at repotting? Ash

[DavidWilloughby]

Thanks for the comments Jason, ric and Ash.

Ash, since repotting, it lay still for a week but since then has been pushing new growth. I kept misting the roots when I repotted it and I also had the pot it went into ready to go so I wouldn't spend time sitting on the bench for any period of time (even 5 mins). While there were roots around the pot, I didn't take too much off and thought it be best to do a reduction over a period of a few years but gradually reducing the rootmass to go into a much shallower pot. I also remember the day I repotted it, it was overcast and humid, I remember reading that the roots have a tendency to dry out in moments when exposed to the air.

Cheers

David

EDITED: Grammar