Mia the Melaleuca

[BB Brian]

Gday,

After months of searching, I managed to find a small - medium sized Melaleuca linariifolia back in September.

At the end of October, after speaking with a few bonsai enthusiast, practitioners and teachers, I finally had some time to trim it back and apply very minimal wire, just to let the light through the canopy, not much has been done but i'm happy with direction it has been given.

I'm told natives love a good drink, so this beauty sits in a drip tray in full sun.

Also, that I should work on either the roots or foliage during the months of Autumn and Spring, as working on both will stress the tree.

I have also noticed the paper bark can be very delicate and had to wire the tree quite loosely.

Here is how she sits from now till March.

Appreciate any advice as i'm still new to our natives

[Boics]

I like the stock and this thing can look more "Bonsai" in a very short time.

Whilst I think you can quite easily cut this back to bare trunks (no foliage) to be safe I'd cut everything back to the lowest green shoots.
The current larger more feminine tree doesn't look terribly bad but I'm seeing a foliage mass around half of the current fan as a more appropriate size.
I'd be trying to remove totally any totally straight and long branches in favour of smaller ones with more movement.

Keep us posted!

[tgward]

nice stock with some good movement----as with boics suggestion--also early on in styling I would carefully remove some topsoil close to the trunk and check the roots to see if they can be carefully re-positioned to improve the flare--

[BB Brian]

I like the stock and this thing can look more "Bonsai" in a very short time.

Whilst I think you can quite easily cut this back to bare trunks (no foliage) to be safe I'd cut everything back to the lowest green shoots.
The current larger more feminine tree doesn't look terribly bad but I'm seeing a foliage mass around half of the current fan as a more appropriate size.
I'd be trying to remove totally any totally straight and long branches in favour of smaller ones with more movement.

Keep us posted!

thanks for the info
the green shoots in the middle of the tree are a back branch i have wired outwards
i guess this stage i have been quite conservative and have decided to let light in to promote back buds but also keep as much foliage mass to help thicken the trunk - still unsure how thick another season or 2 will do me or how much vigour our natives have

i would prefer a smaller tree, and agree with you having the canopy cut back 50%

my other thoughts are considering it is last month of spring, do they go dormant in summer or power through, should i partial, full shade or full sun after a hard prune, and will it be ready for its first container in March when i repot or should i try a training pot half the size of current one

this is quickly becoming one of my faves and if its one thing i've learnt over the 2 years is NOT to cut back too hard unless i am familiar with its growth habits and vigour - would you say they are similar to elms or figs?

[BB Brian]

nice stock with some good movement----as with boics suggestion--also early on in styling I would carefully remove some topsoil close to the trunk and check the roots to see if they can be carefully re-positioned to improve the flare--

thank you,
i will look into the top soil this week and reposition what is needed
and apply sphagnum moss to get through our summer

[Ryceman3]

Enormous potential in that trunk. Did you get this from a bonsai specific source or just a regular nursery? If just a regular nursery - you struck very rare gold! If you can chase that foliage back down closer to the trunk I think you can make something super cool with this. My only bit of input is that if you plan on keeping those longer branches you have wired that long, look to get some more movement into them if you can... twists and turns up and down/forward and back etc...
I think this will be a great tree.

[shibui]

Not sure where you are getting your information from but it does not seem to tally with my experiences with natives in general or mel linarifolia in particular.
I have found these to be very resilient and strong. Great for bonsai.
You can prune as much as you like. These sprout really well from bare wood so no need to pussy foot about leaving green shoots - just cut it all back well below where you want the final outline to be ( trees nearly always grow bigger after pruning so need to cut smaller than planned final size). Like many other trees these are reluctant to back bud unless you severely prune the exsiting growth.
Although natives may go dormant in hot, dry conditions in the bush, when they have plenty of water and food they usually grow all summer so pruning is constant right through the growing season. I have never had any adverse reaction to both root pruning and trimming the tops in the same season or at the same time. I normally root prune these any time over summer when the weather is warm - November - Feb, including hot months. In my experience March is too late for repotting most natives but my climate is far colder than Sydnet so March may be OK for you. My trees go straight back onto the bench after trimming or root pruning. Whatever they are used to is the best. If some internal leaves get sunburned they will soon be replaced by new ones that will be adjusted to the conditions.

[dansai]

I agree with Shibui. I have heard many things about what you should do and can't do, often after I have done the thing that you can't with no problems. (My first ever JBP's I repotted at the beginning of summer as I hadn't been told I can't, and all three where much happier afterwards). Not working on the tops and the bottoms at the same time, or even the same season, is one I have heard many a time. I do so regularly with my natives, and even have done so with JBP's (a big no-no according to some), with no ill effects. The natives usually respond with an explosion of growth. And this time of year is great for it.

I also agree with pruning harder. A light prune will mean you will only get growth concentrating on the ends. You have a beautiful trunks with lots of movement then long straight branches and tufts of foliage. The way I see it you have 2 choices;

1. As suggested put some more movement into the branches you have wired and repot into a 300mm orchid pot (I notice your with the School of Bonsai, Ray stocks these) giving it a decent root prune (should be pretty fibrous if this has been grown for Bonsai, Did you get it from Bonsai Word?). Then let it grow for the season, these thicken quite well in a pot, and reevaluate next year. This will eventually give you a tree about thew size it is now, but with a trunk and branches in better proportion.

2. If you are happy with the trunk around the size it is, repot into a 200mm orchid and cut back hard. From there regular trimming will ensure lots of branches and foliage close into the trunk. For the next 6 months you could just roughly hedge prune to get twig density then Autumn go through and thin out any areas that are too dense, selecting branch lines with the most interesting twists and turns. This should result in a tree about 1/2 to 2/3 the height it is now.

If you go option 2, you could probably even put it in a slightly oversized bonsai pot straight away, or wait a year or 2 then into an appropriately sized one. It should fill the pot with roots pretty quick, especially if you have it sitting in a water tray.

[Rory]

My experience with Melaleuca linarifolia is that they are extremely hardy (my area is Gosford, 1 hour North of you in Sydney).
For a few years now I've been growing the exact variety you have : Melaleuca linarifolia claret tops. (nice short leaves and crimson/orange tips, slightly bluish/green foliage).

Since then I have trialled the normal longer leaf varieties of M. linarifolia (stronger green foliage), which are just as hardy.

One thing I should point out is that after a root removal and top-prune, occasionally I've had them sulk for up to 6-8 weeks on some occasions. Usually it doesn't take this long but don't be impatient, remember eventually it will shoot. I have never noticed much die-back on any of them I've tried. In fact it is possibly one of the most willing subjects to shoot from nearly every branch you leave remaining after a cut-back. Obviously if you remove a significant amount of root, you might get die-back, but if you cut back proportionately you wont have a problem. I've cut back and/or repotted in winter above zero degrees, all throughout spring, and summer without any problems.

From my experience they grow well in either light or heavy soils and easily tolerate a lot of shade. They love full sun.

To me the theory about natives going dormant in hot summer is interesting. I've not noticed this on the species I grow, and we have had temps up to 45 degrees in summers in the past. From my experience if the gum or casuarina, or Melalueca is left too long in the heat without ample water, the leaves may wilt or suffer a set-back or a small portion of the foliage may perish. Now depending on the tree and how long it was left before re-watered it can take up to 3 weeks or so for the new shoots to appear. But obviously the tree is growing strong, its just having to push out new growth because of the set-back. This may be being misconstrued with the correlation of the high heat and having damaged any juvenile growth. But this is just my theory.