Melaleuca Styphelioides

[shibui]

Leave it in a largish pot while its developing! Putting bonsai into small pots just slows down the development. What can be achieved in a couple of years in a large pot might take 10 years in a small one.
Good to see you've thinned out the branches growing from the same points on the trunk. Having several branches growing close together usually thickens the trunk too much and you end up with a bulge at that spot. Very difficult to deal with after.

[NathanM]

Very nice progression busta Looks excellent! The second styling is definately an improvement over the first.
It probably would be a good idea to put it back into a larger pot for a couple of years, just to help it develop quicker.

[Terry]

Seeing Strawbs post on this species reminded me that I have one. It now sits in a water tray filled with gravel all through the summer months and provided it doesn't dry out (there was some die back of a few right hand branches last season due to lack of moisture ), it powers away with a regular sprinkling of dynamic lifter. The right side of this tree is recovering and will soon fill out (I hope)

[Craig]

Beautiful tree Busta, love what you've achieved with the trunk

[bodhidharma]

Nice to see the Styph's coming out of the closets. Lovely small tree and maybe your care habits of the tree could be included as it seems not a lot is known of this species.

[Terry]

Thanks guys, my care habits are fairly simple. Repot every year in a well draining mix and lots of water and food. I treat this tree as if it were growing in a swamp. It is never allowed to dry out (except for that one time last summer ) from early spring right through the hottest parts of the year. I soak it every month in seasol and make sure there are 4 /5 pellets ( this is a small tree) of dynamic lifter on the soil surface. It gets full sun from mid morning and seems to thrive in the heat provided it is wet. I have other species of mels that I dug from a local clay based swamp and they are treated in a similar fashion.

[Terry]

Hi all.
An update and request for help with this small tree. I'm unsure how I now need to proceed with it's development, (It looks so much better to me in real life than in the photos). So any comments / advice, good, critical or otherwise is welcome. I have taken some inspiration from a Mel I saw whilst in Canberra recently and would like something similar in a smaller version . Disregarding the pot, are the foliage pads too big, too small, too flat, out of proportion. does the potting angle need to change?
Is the branching angle ok, are there enough main branches etc etc ( I seems very hard to get the tree to look good from all angles) ? Some advice on a pot would be welcome.

Please look at the photos and offer me some direction.

Dimensions are 21.5cm high (from soil level), 17cm wide and 6.5cm wide at the base of trunk.

Thanks

Terry

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[Craig]

Terry, maybe something in this direction.

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[Steven]

G'day Terry,

Which direction did you end up taking with this Mel? Any chance on an update?

Regards,
Steven

[Dario]

I too would be interested in seeing an update of this mel
Cheers, Dario.

[Terry]

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Thanks for the interest.

Not a lot of time lately to do much bonsai. Just keeping it trimmed and neat.

Terry

[Dario]

Thank you for the update Terry
Does this species heal cuts ok...diameter of between 1 to 2 cm's?
Also is the carved section doing ok...is it thickening and slightly rolling in at the edge?
Cheers, Dario.

[Grant Bowie]

Thank you for the update Terry
Does this species heal cuts ok...diameter of between 1 to 2 cm's?
Also is the carved section doing ok...is it thickening and slightly rolling in at the edge?
Cheers, Dario.

It seems to heal very quickly and thoroughly; we have a very large one by QV at the collection this year.

It is a great tree and encouraged me to get on with one I have at home when I semi retire.

grant

[Dario]

Thank you for that information Grant
Best of luck with the one you will be working on at home, hope you post it one day when it is ready. The one at the collection is very impressive indeed.
I collected a large one late last year and it is recovering extremely well. I can't wait to get stuck into it at the end of the year...they are terrific trees.
Cheers, Dario.

[Terry]

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I did a quick clean up and change of planting angle on this Mel this afternoon.