Advice on collecting a Casuarina

[ben the barbarian]

I found a young Casuarina on a roadside that had suckered bside a big tree- it's maybe a metre tall, with a trunk base of about 2 inches in diameter.

Just wondering if it would be an appropriate time to collect?? How do Casuarinas fare, are they hardy or temperamental? And how do they go with getting the chop?

I've always loved Casuarina trees, they bring back strong memories of my childhood on Groote Eylandt, and I must say, after seeing Steven's amazing Shohin entry, I'm feeling very inspired!

Any advice appreciated

[matty-j]

Hey Ben

I Have only collected a few of them
But I can tell you they back bud on old wood very well
I collected one about a month ago and that was 7ft tall
And I chopped it down to 1ft
it's back budding all over the base of the trunk
This tree was bear rooted not by choice
It was pushed over with an excavator
But the others I have not bear rooted
An left the field soil on the rootball
Hopefully yours has not suckered off a large root
Which would make it difficult to remove
I hope this helps
Goodluck

Cheers
Matt

[ben the barbarian]

Thanks Matt!

Good to hear yours is going well-- sounds like it withstood a fair bit of trauma too.

I'm fairly sure this isn't suckered on a big root- I gave it a bit of a wiggle and it seems like it'll come out pretty easy. I might have a crack at it on the weekend I reckon

[matty-j]

I say go for it!!

As long as the after care is top notch I don't see a problem
From what I've seen they love wet feet so keep the water up

Post a photo after you have collected it

Happy digging

Cheers
Matt

[kcpoole]

they can take a fir bit of rugged treatment OK so give it a go

Ken