Collected Melaleuca Cuticularis

[Patmet]

*Not collected by me*

I don't have any experience with collecting at this stage, it's something I hope to learn more about in the future.

I aquired this Mel Cuticularis in May this year, from a good friend who is very experienced at collecting these in our local area.

Shockingly, living in south west WA, this is my first Mel Cuticularis after doing bonsai for roughly 5 years now. Being the number one species for collection here, I always figured I'd collect one eventually and for some reason haven't come across them in local nurseries.

After aquiring it raw from collection I cut it back fairly conservatively. I then cut it back pretty hard in July, leaving more foliage down on the lower small trunk.

I've been fertilising and free growing since then, and it's now back on my radar for another round of work. It's going to be one of my christmas break projects. I'll update again after I do the work.

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Raw collected material

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First cut

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Second cut

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Dec 2023 growth

[Patmet]

Gave this a first styling today with Tony Bebb. Very happy with where it's headed. Trying to encourage, and hoping for some shoots along the bald side of the trunk.

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Before

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After

[ACooke]

Beautiful tree.
I think the secondary trunk you've let develop looks great with the design; I doubt I'd have had the foresight to do so.

[Patmet]

Update time. Since the first styling in the previous post - About a year ago, I let it grow freely and did one cut back in the spring. It's been repotted into a shallower terracotta pot in spring and into my volcanic based bonsai substrate. I ended up getting a few shots in a spot on the bald side of the trunk.

I felt it was time to do another round of work in March this year. Since the first work I've been out in the local bush observing and photographing these mels to help inform how I want this tree to look in the future.

Something I've noticed with these particular mels, the cuticularis, is that the very old decrepit specimens tend to have many cascading or vertically drooping branches. Very much a weeping appearance. I think this is due to the weight of the foliage mass sagging everything down. I also see this on some of the banksia species in these parts.

This is the look I want to emulate in this tree, which also has that classic mother/daughter or father/son twin trunk design. At the start of March I completely wired it. It looks very formal and a bit rigid to me right now, but I just want to set some good structure at this stage. I'm thinking maybe I'll get some of that more natural looking weep down the track when I compact it back through cutting and get more fine branching. Also there isn't really a proper crown or apex yet I need it to grow more branches in that top section still.

When Tony Bebb was visiting in April I got him to critique what I had done and we shortened some parts I had left long to break up up some parts where the foliage masses were in a straight line with each other.

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March 2025 before work

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The kind or drooping branch feel I was playing around with digitally before working on it.

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After complete wiring March 2025

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After Tony Bebb's critique and some tweaks. (It looks a bit messy here though as it's been left shaggy for this phase).

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A few different old trees on the edge of a local river near me with examples of the drooping foliage I'm talking about.