Syzygium smithii Tiny Trev

[dansai]

I was considering entering this into the Shonin comp, but decided it would work better as a larger tree. It currently stands a little over 400mm high and has great movement in the new leader that i thought best to allow to thicken rather than remove to get it under the size for a shonin.

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It was rescued from a carpark where it was being smashed by cars. With the permission of the owners I also got a couple of others. They had massive tap roots and huge trunks just below the soil line. One died, another I will post soon and this one. I haven't looked at the roots since transplanting so are yet to see what I have to work with and the under side has a lot of bare wood. I imagine there will be quite a bit of carving in the final design.

These trees back bud profusely and produce many buds at the internodes. This was a bare trunk just over a year ago and has had little feeding other than the initial control release in the mix added after some growth had matured. I will hopefully do a bit of work on this tree soon including a repot before the weather turns too cool, not that we have a cold winter here (near Nambucca Heads, 30 mins south of Coffs).

I'm considering removing the lower branch and including this area in some carving and may change the planting angle. Also need to decide on a front. Originally I thought I would use the first picture as the front because of the character in the bark, but I love the trunk line of the last 2 pics.

Any comments/ides

[kcpoole]

What a lovely trunk base! Great rescue

Pity the lowest branch is so low as I think that needs to go and then let the top grow hard for a year or 2 more. then cut back and grow the canopy

Ken

[lackhand]

Congrats on doing the best thing for your tree and not giving in to the current shohin mania. I like what I can see, and I think I would try to keep the character of the trunk. I prefer trees that have a real story instead of those heavily carved to create a story. Don't get me wrong, both are cool and have their place, but nature is a better artist than most of us. If you do more carving, just try to get it to match.

[dansai]

The carving will be only to remove rotting timber and give a more aged appearance to the top rather than the broken and cracked top that exists at present. The only removal of wood I have done so far is some from what is currently underneath. I did have it sitting on a rock that extended the base flare but as the mix settled the rock moved away from thetree. I may look at replacing it when I repot but I was worried the wood may root before the healing embraced the rock.

I'll get some close ups of the underside and the dead wood when I repot.

[dansai]

Well, I just repotted this one. Some good roots but not heaps.

This is the underside. As you can see, alot of bare wood, with a bit of rot, but not too much yet.

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This is what I considered the original front, and the planting angle I would adopt if I choose this in the future.

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But for now I have potted it this way until I establish better roots and decide on a final design.

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And a closer look at the trunk.

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I'll still let it grow out some more before trimming back branches and will wait until autumn growth has slowed before wiring as the branches are quite supple but swell quickly while growing.