Callistemon I swapped for a Plumpricot tree

[Luke308]

I went to my partner's best friend's engagement party a few months back at Wallaroo which is about 2 &1/2 hours away from where I live. Whilst there I spied this Callistemon and thought it could potentially make a great bonsai. I really liked the nebari as it reminded me of many JBPs I have seen (even though it is one sided), and I loved the bark too.
Anyway, my partner is embarrassed by me being interested in bonsai, so I knew it was gonna be a hard task to acquire this tree. It turned out to belong to my partner's friend's Mum which made things even harder. Anyway after some exchanging of picture msg's to confirm which tree I was referring to, it was agreed that I could swap it for a fruit tree. So my partner was going up there yesterday so I loaded in a hybrid apricot/plum tree (Plumricot??) to swap and she did me the favour of bringing this home for me.

It is slightly different than I remember (maybe that was the beer goggles I had on when I first spied it?) But I think it still has some potential. I would appreciate any suggestions, and if anyone has the patience, a virt or two would be great. I am contemplating to take this tree to a workshop with Grant Bowie next Sunday.

Thanks for looking

Callistemon from wallaroo 001.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 007.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 008.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 009.jpg

callistemon1.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 006.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 002.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 003.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 005.jpg

Callistemon from wallaroo 006.jpg

[Phoenix238]

Nice Callistemon, although I hear the spiders were a bit of an issue for your Partner!

Andrew

[Samegyed]

Nice!,
Lots of low branches means lots of options.
Have fun with it !

Cheers,
Sam

[Bougy Fan]

Did anyone else notice this ?

Anyway, my partner is embarrassed by me being interested in bonsai

Forget asking advice about the roots - how about asking how to meet someone new who likes bonsai or at least tolerates it ?

[Luke308]

Nice Callistemon, although I hear the spiders were a bit of an issue for your Partner!

Andrew

Nah there were no spiders. She is petrified of spiders so I told her to spray around the outside rim of the pot before putting it in her car. I shouldn't have said anything though as she said she was paranoid about spiders the whole way home.

[Luke308]

Did anyone else notice this ?

Anyway, my partner is embarrassed by me being interested in bonsai

Forget asking advice about the roots - how about asking how to meet someone new who likes bonsai or at least tolerates it ?

I've been told I will have my trees longer than my gf by someone at my club.

She tolerates it, but has no interest in it that's all. She doesn't like telling people I am interested in bonsai as she thinks it is for old people I have told her there are people much younger than me interested in bonsai, but she doesn't listen. I love her for who she is not what shes interested in, and she loves me for me. That said, I wish I could get her interested, but she knows quite a bit about bonsai from me boring her with facts. Who knows, she might give in and put the knowledge to use

[Bougy Fan]

That's a very wise club member Luke As long as she doesn't complain about the spread of growing stock under the clothesline, the smell of chook poo, styro boxes popping up all over the yard and the reluctance to go away (because the trees have to be watered every day !) everything will be OK

[Luke308]

Would love to have some suggestions regarding the styling of this tree. A virt or two would be even better

Thanks

[Craig]

Hi Luke, mate, 1st, did you dig this tree out of the ground or was it in a pot already and 2nd, are there any more surface roots or nebari that would be a factor to consider when planning a direction for the tree ?

[Luke308]

Hi Luke, mate, 1st, did you dig this tree out of the ground or was it in a pot already and 2nd, are there any more surface roots or nebari that would be a factor to consider when planning a direction for the tree ?

The tree is as I got it in the pot (severely pot-bound), and I haven't dug around the roots yet to see if there is anything more to work with. I'll go have a quick dig around

[Luke308]

Just had a quick dig around, and there is nothing like is visible on the other side. However there are nicely spaced roots on the opposite side to the tangle of roots which go down into the pot at about 40 degree angle. They start about 1-2cm below the tangle of roots on the other side. I think they could be made more into surface roots but that depends on how the root ball is when I get round to re-potting it. Also it would then cause a problem of having the tangle of roots being much higher and out of balance compared to the other side.

When is the best time to re-pot and root prune (hard) callistemons?

[Craig]

Sweet cheers, i don't know mate, you could trim back the trunk for SOME TAPER and try to set it up for another round of growing. It depends what you saw/see in it aswell Luke, a small tree or larger tree . I would maybe wait till we move closer to Spring and then look at sorting out the roots and setting them up first.

[Luke308]

I see a medium to large tree in there. I think I am going to have to change the planting angle, but I'm unsure about which would be best suited for the first branch. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated

[Craig]

I see a medium to large tree in there. I think I am going to have to change the planting angle, but I'm unsure about which would be best suited for the first branch. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated

Hi Luke, i would not be concerned about which is going to be your first branch just yet . Pick one or more of the trunks and either trim for taper or not, and grow on for several years first. Start sorting out the roots by spreading them in the outwards direction and grow , grow grow.

Or if you want a smaller tree choose some branches and try to style it a little now, but which trunk/branches is your decision.

[Watto]

Luke - firstly, good tree nice score.
My preference is for the view in the second last photo. To me it shows some movement and also shows a thick nabari. My limited knowledge of this species is that re-potting should be done when the weather warms up a bit, so for your area that is probably mid September.
This like all bonsai needs to have some secondary branching so that meeans you need to cut away all the bits that do not fit into the design and then trim the bits that you like. That will encourage more branching along each branch.
I wouldn't let it flower until you have it very healthy and in a bonsai pot.