Care and styling advice for Leptospermum Laevigatum?

[CommonCalluna]

Hello there ,

I am brand new to bonsai and would like some advice on how to deal with my leptospermum laevigatum's present situation.

This is the tree here.



I bought it as a plant to develop, and I'm excited to have it as part of my collection.

It is root bound as all heck, the pot is firm with no give. I can't even get a finger into the soil to check the moisture, I had to use a chopstick. But I know now is the wrong time for root work on leptospermum. I'm worried about it getting enough water until it's warm enough to go digging and untangling in the roots. I currently have it in a tray and I'm allowing it to absorb water from the bottom.
Could this lead to root rot if the container is so densly packed?

Information on the plant talks about how delicate leptospermum roots are to being touched at the wrong time of year, are they too delicate to be slip potted? I'm thinking slip potting until summer could be the best solution to the rootbound problem.

I also have a question on the future design of the tree. I have been looking at it a lot, trying to decide what it wants to be. The trunk as it is has a long straight section before it tapers.

Trunk now.



I believe a small trim could improve the flow of the tree along this line.



So I would be looking to prune these branches.



I would really appreciate some advice on;
-when to prune, and how long apart to time branch pruning and root pruning. (root pruning/detangling is going to be far more important for the health of this tree than a style cut so I need to prioritise it.)

- how does die back affect leptospermum laevigatum? How far from flush should my cuts be to avoid this?
- do the prunes I'm planning make sense? I'm very new to this and I would appreciate any styling/planning advice anyone would like to give. At the moment I am planning on leaving it fairly bushy and refining the spring and summer growth closer to autumn. I'm leaving leggy vertical growth from the bottom shoots as the highest points on the tree in a hope to thicken the bottom branches and set them as the primaries.


If you have any thoughts on this I'd love to hear them. Like I said I'm very new, this is among one of my very first tree's (I sensibly chose the far more beginner friendly rosemary, banksia, Chinese elm, and trident maple as my others ), and I will be very appreciative of any advice you have.

Thanks for reading my very first post.

[treeman]

CommonCalluna post_id=296269 time=1664272838 user_id=14344]
. But I know now is the wrong time for root work on leptospermum. I'm worried about it getting enough water until it's warm enough to go digging and untangling in the roots.

Now is the right time to repot it. You can be rather severe - within reason. You can remove the bottom half of the root ball with a small axe.
Sometimes roots come off in big clumps. Be careful if this is the case and use a very sharp chopstick to disentangle. Do not over pot! Leave about 30-50mm of room between the roots and the inside of the pot.

I currently have it in a tray and I'm allowing it to absorb water from the bottom.
Could this lead to root rot if the container is so densly packed?

Yes

how delicate leptospermum roots are to being touched at the wrong time of year, are they too delicate to be slip potted? forma I'm thinking slip potting until summer could be the best solution to the rootbound problem.

''Slip potting'' is a bad idea at the best of times. It will accelerate any possible rotting of the roots.

would really appreciate some advice on;
-when to prune, and how long apart to time branch pruning and root pruning. (root pruning/detangling is going to be far more important for the health of this tree than a style cut so I need to prioritise it.)

Branch prune at the same time as roots pruning. Make sure you leave some leaves on any heavy branches you cut off. Cut them back flush at a later date. Even a year from now. Don't allow them to grow away to much though, keep them weak by continually pinching back to a few leaves. Doing this will mitigate die-back in other parts of the tree. If there is a branch immediately above and/or below the onr you want to remove, it's ok to cut it flush straight away.

More info here.... viewtopic.php?f=106&t=20109&hilit=lepto ... e&start=75

[GavinG]

Welcome to the world of Too Many Decisions!

Firstly, your tree looks healthy, don't panic about its roots immediately. I'm not from Melb, but I imagine you could repot your Lepto as soon as the weather warms up a bit more - 2-4 weeks should do it. I wouldn't cut hard in the top when you root-prune - if everything is tight and congested, tease the roots out, more than cutting them back hard. If you are worried about how hard you've been, stand the Lepto in a water bath after surgery - so long as its warm-ish, it should be fine.

As far as large-scale shaping goes, leave it until the root-prune has settled. As they don't (I think) shoot back on old wood, cut anything long-ish back, to keep the growth compact.

As for design, the trunk is very straight and quite mature - unless you want to put many years into growing further curves into it, it might be wise to accept the trunk, prune back the length, and adjust the foliage to suit. And take some cuttings to grow trunks that move the way you want.

Good luck!

Gavin

[Max Jenkem]

If it were mine I'd tilt it ~45°, root prune, chop around the red (incase of die-back) below that straight section to maximise the nice taper on lowest section and wire + grow that left hand branch as the new leader for a couple of years.

Untitled271_20220929130203.jpg

[CommonCalluna]

Now is the right time to repot it. You can be rather severe - within reason. You can remove the bottom half of the root ball with a small axe.
Sometimes roots come off in big clumps. Be careful if this is the case and use a very sharp chopstick to disentangle. Do not over pot! Leave about 30-50mm of room between the roots and the inside of the pot.


''Slip potting'' is a bad idea at the best of times. It will accelerate any possible rotting of the roots.


Branch prune at the same time as roots pruning. Make sure you leave some leaves on any heavy branches you cut off. Cut them back flush at a later date. Even a year from now. Don't allow them to grow away to much though, keep them weak by continually pinching back to a few leaves. Doing this will mitigate die-back in other parts of the tree. If there is a branch immediately above and/or below the onr you want to remove, it's ok to cut it flush straight away.

More info here.... viewtopic.php?f=106&t=20109&hilit=lepto ... e&start=75

You have so much experience growing lepto's! I really appreciate your time, thankyou!

I am a bit confused though as all the information I'd read before your post suggests that for Australian natives it's best to work on them in the real heat of summer. We still have a lot of cold wet days left down here (I can see you're also from Melbourne) and based on my experience growing veggies for the last few years I know we've got at least another month of storm rains, and likely a hail storm or two around cup day. If I were to untangle the roots and do a bit of pruning would it decrease the trees likeliness of survival over the coming incliment weather? I'm enjoying the sunny days but I know they wont be consistent for at least another month. In your opinion is it better to do this work in the spring flush or wait till the heat arrives with staying power?

-I hear you on the slip potting! I will leave slip potting for my annuals and herbs only and not bring it into my bonsai practice.

-if I could ask another follow up question, is there any benefit (besides it being more convenient for the person) to cutting branches and roots at once? I feel like that would be a lot of stress for the tree at once, my instinct is to space them out by months if not a season, but I'm happy to be corrected here.

Again thankyou so much for your knowledge, I'm just a bit confused because it's counter to do much else of what information I've been able to find. But you seem to be one of the pioneers in growing this species as bonsai, so now I don't know if everything else I've read is wrong, haha

[CommonCalluna]

Welcome to the world of Too Many Decisions!

Firstly, your tree looks healthy, don't panic about its roots immediately. I'm not from Melb, but I imagine you could repot your Lepto as soon as the weather warms up a bit more - 2-4 weeks should do it. I wouldn't cut hard in the top when you root-prune - if everything is tight and congested, tease the roots out, more than cutting them back hard. If you are worried about how hard you've been, stand the Lepto in a water bath after surgery - so long as its warm-ish, it should be fine.

As far as large-scale shaping goes, leave it until the root-prune has settled. As they don't (I think) shoot back on old wood, cut anything long-ish back, to keep the growth compact.

As for design, the trunk is very straight and quite mature - unless you want to put many years into growing further curves into it, it might be wise to accept the trunk, prune back the length, and adjust the foliage to suit. And take some cuttings to grow trunks that move the way you want.

Good luck!

Gavin

Hi Gavin! Thankyou for your time!

Yeah I definitely plan on a root untangling and teasing out more so than a hack and cut. I was pretty haphazard with my rosemary but I've been growing those for years, I'm much more anxious about how to care for these natives. I'm excited for the learning curve, I just hope I can limit the resulting casualties.

I don't think I'll ever get a curvy tree out of this one, and that's okay it's doing a great job growing straight! I'm just not sure if it's currently too straight for too long without taper and I think shortening the trunk a little before the canopy would result in a nicer tree. Maybe I'm thinking too small?

Cuttings is happening. I have many more banksia's and rosemary's on their way! I believe I have to wait till summer wood for a semi-hardwood cutting for this guy

[CommonCalluna]

If it were mine I'd tilt it ~45°, root prune, chop around the red (incase of die-back) below that straight section to maximise the nice taper on lowest section and wire + grow that left hand branch as the new leader for a couple of years.Untitled271_20220929130203.jpg

so short!!

I love the thick barked trunk it has, I don't think I'm willing to get rid of quite so much.

I can see what you're going for though and in the long time it would be gorgeous. Maybe when I have more confidence and more trees.

[treeman]

CommonCalluna post_id=296325 time=1664499571 user_id=14344]

I am a bit confused though as all the information I'd read before your post suggests that for Australian natives it's best to work on them in the real heat of summer. We still have a lot of cold wet days left down here (I can see you're also from Melbourne) and based on my experience growing veggies for the last few years I know we've got at least another month of storm rains, and likely a hail storm or two around cup day. If I were to untangle the roots and do a bit of pruning would it decrease the trees likeliness of survival over the coming incliment weather? I'm enjoying the sunny days but I know they wont be consistent for at least another month. In your opinion is it better to do this work in the spring flush or wait till the heat arrives with staying power?

I repotted one of mine last month and several in the last couple of weeks. They were all in growth and there won't be any problem doing it now. I am usually a few degrees cooler than the city for most of the year. The only thing I keep an eye on is to keep some newly repotted trees out of persistant rain for a week or two but I have never done that with the coastal tea trees.

-if I could ask another follow up question, is there any benefit (besides it being more convenient for the person) to cutting branches and roots at once? I feel like that would be a lot of stress for the tree at once, my instinct is to space them out by months if not a season, but I'm happy to be corrected here.

I cut branches and roots at the same time on just about everything without issues. It's true that roots will form more quickly with more leaves to feed them but as long as there are a good number left after cutting you can go ahead. It's always a question of balance.

[treeman]

CommonCalluna post_id=296325 time=1664499571 user_id=14344]

I am a bit confused though as all the information I'd read before your post suggests that for Australian natives it's best to work on them in the real heat of summer. We still have a lot of cold wet days left down here (I can see you're also from Melbourne) and based on my experience growing veggies for the last few years I know we've got at least another month of storm rains, and likely a hail storm or two around cup day. If I were to untangle the roots and do a bit of pruning would it decrease the trees likeliness of survival over the coming incliment weather? I'm enjoying the sunny days but I know they wont be consistent for at least another month. In your opinion is it better to do this work in the spring flush or wait till the heat arrives with staying power?

I repotted one of mine last month and several in the last couple of weeks. They were all in growth and there won't be any problem doing it now. I am usually a few degrees cooler than the city for most of the year. The only thing I keep an eye on is to keep some newly repotted trees out of persistant rain for a week or two but I have never done that with the coastal tea trees.

-if I could ask another follow up question, is there any benefit (besides it being more convenient for the person) to cutting branches and roots at once? I feel like that would be a lot of stress for the tree at once, my instinct is to space them out by months if not a season, but I'm happy to be corrected here.

I cut branches and roots at the same time on just about everything without issues. It's true that roots will form more quickly with more leaves to feed them but as long as there are a good number left after cutting you can go ahead. It's always a question of balance. I use an axe to cut through about half of the root ball before even using the root hook as all this will be cut off anyway. With a young tree like yours you can remove 75% of the roots. You should pat particular attention to the area beneath the nebari as this is often left untouched for too long and gets more and more compacted leading to trouble down the road. Use a fine hook if you can get one. (I make my own out of 3mm stainless steel rod with a very sharp tip). I use this to get between the roots and penetrate down into the compacted area beneath the trunk.
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[Simmo]

I would just like to add that I agree with the purple line that you drew. If using this line then I would lean the tree to the right. I would also remove the two lowest branches and the second on the left to expose more of the lovely trunk without your eye being drawn towards those branches. This will allow the tree to be taller without it being busy down low. You could leave the two lowest branches on for a bit longer to help to thicken the trunk even more, before eventually removing them.
Leaving the second branch on the right, as the most significant branch, will complement the angle of the nebari once the tree is repositioned on an angle.
Just a few of my thoughts. Good luck.
Simmo.