collecting NATIVES

[hugh grant]

hi everyone
i have come across a few natives that i think would be interesting to collect which are a few wattles, eucalyptus, casuarina and a native holy ( which is a very sparse prickly bush if anyone is not familiar with this plant). They are all on a slope near the road and the soil is full of clay. And there is another place up the road that has all wattles and is in better soil in the bush.
i would like to know what is the best time and the best way to collect these trees as i do not know what is the correct way to collect native trees and i was wanting to dig them out now but was not sure

Hugh

[dicko]

Hugh wait till after it rains dig wide near outer canapy cut any roots growing past dig clear one side away so as to be able to dig under try to lift tree soil and all then water good luck Dicko

[hugh grant]

ok thanks, but also what is the best season to lift these trees? that would help me with when i am going to dig the trees ( after it rains now that i know)
thanks
hugh

[stymie]

How do Hugh. The optimum time for collection is early spring. That could be August for you in Oz. The equivalent to my February in the UK.
Don't let the roots dry at all and get them into well draining compost as soon as possible.

[hugh grant]

Thanks stymie but For anyone Who knows I would mainly like to know what is the best season for Australian natives like the trees I want to dig to be collected because I know that natives are a bit more sensitive to collecting in some species, or so I've heard.
Thanks
Hugh

[dicko]

casarinas now ok so long as not to much regrowth take some off but leave half with younger branches go for it Dicko

[LLK]

Better watch it, because most native plants are protected and you could get into serious trouble if you were seen collecting any.
Here's a useful online document http://www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/factsh/fs06_2.php; scroll down to "3 Native plants". It also says under what circumstances you can sometimes collect natives.
Good luck,

LLK

[shibui]

Right on LLK. Not only illegal but unethical too. Few survive transplanting at this stage. Is it really worth it? Better to stick to collecting the 'weeds' from the roadsides and grow your own natives - better control of rootsystem and growth. Try planting some seedlings in the ground to grow faster and experiment with those - and let us know anything you learn about working with Aus natives. Any useful info can go in the Australian Plants as Bonsai database.

[hugh grant]

Thanks guys
the trees are on our property and on others peoples land around me that I know so it would be fine to dig them and I woulnt get caught and I'm in a rural area so very few to get in trouble from. Well thanks for the advice guys.
Thanks

Hugh

[Greth]

I have no qualms about lifting wild seedlings from my own property, I would never take them from a public area or roadside. I do collect olives from the roadside, our road is a Landcare revegetation site and they regularly come to kill the larger olives. I just save them some trouble by removing the seedlings
I don't think there are any legal hassles here with collecting on own property. Ethically I don't mind too much either, we are allowing about 10 acres to revegetate naturally, the baby trees are way overcrowded and most will die anyway. I want to establish a decent open woodland, not thick scrub, which is unnatural to this area and a major fire hazard. There are quite a few coming up on the edges of our driveway and around buildings which need to be removed one way or another before they become a problem.

If I can learn to lift these guys I will also be using some of them with guards in the remaining paddocks which are grazed, and helping out some neighbours with their revegetation problems too.

[hugh grant]

Thanks greth, that is exactly what I am doing not taking from the public but am digging from my own area so it is fine and there are alot of small seedlinglike trees around aswell as medium sized to large trees sutable for collecting.
yesterday did end up digging up 2 wattle seedlings as it had just rained and the clay earth wasade soft for digging fom the rain. I dug them to see if the wattles in this area can deal with being dig up as not much root is able to be obtained as the roots go right down. I will see how they go and hopefully it is successful so I can see if I can dig more worthy and interesting material from there.
I will post pictures of the seedlings soon to show what they look like.

Hugh

[hugh grant]

heres the trees i collected yesterday

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hugh

[hugh grant]

by the way they are wattles if i didn't mention that before

[agrovl]

if its been in the ground for a while dont rip it out of the ground straight away leave it for another season after u have cut all the roots then u can lift it or else it wont survive and when u lift out of the ground it will have a fiberous root system eg survival

[hugh grant]

thanks mate that is a method i have heard of but not sure if that would work as the soil is basically clay and sandstone so im not sure if it would grow roots back well, but i dont know.
by the way, welcome to ausbonsai

Hugh