Progression of a Eucalyptus scoparia [Wallangara White Gum]

[Steven]

I love checking out the 'hospital' sections of nursery's - you never know what you will find! Plants that the general public call rubbish are GOLD to us bonsaists.

I found this E. scoparia in April 2008 tucked away in a back corner of Swanes Nursery in Carlingford. Tall, lanky and not much growth but it had a wonderful basal swell as well as nice movement in the lower sections. I did the nursery a favour, took it off their hands ($12.50 I recall) then borrowed a pair of secateurs and cut it down from 1.7 meters to a 350mm bare stump. The looks on the staffs faces were priceless

It sat in my yard for the next couple of months and bathed heavily in sunshine and Charlie Carp. It popped in all the right places and the following pics are how it looked by July 2008.

31.07.08 before.jpg

31.07.08 trunk.jpg

My vision for this tree from the day I laid eyes on it was to replicate a huge old gum sitting majestically in the Aussie outback.

I took to it with my trusty side cutters and removed all but the essential growth needed for the new branch structure.

31.07.08 after selective pruning.jpg

Another 6 weeks of sun, ferts and tender loving care saw my Euc pop again with new growth, this time it was mainly restricted to the trunk. Not a good thing with Eucalyptus as shoots from the base tend to use up all the nutrients and take energy away from the top growth.

19.09.08 before.jpg

19.09.08 trunk with new shoots.jpg

At this time I also removed the middle of the 3 trunks/branches and sealed the wound with cut paste.

19.09.08 after selective removal of shoots.jpg

Another 2 weeks of fert and sun - the growth was phenomenal. You could almost watch this thing grow!

03.10.08 before.jpg

Time to wire some of the branches into shape. Not an easy feat I may add. The growth was so fresh that I had to be very careful not to damage the branches.

03.10.08 after the first wiring.jpg

2 weeks and a heap of growth later, the wire was starting to cut in! There has to be a better way to shape these Gums I think

16.10.08 wire cutting in already.jpg

This post takes us from the end of July 2008 to mid October 2008. I'm sure you will be as impressed as I was at the speed of development. Wait to see what happens over the next 15 months!

Questions or comments are welcomed.

Regards,
Steven

[bonscythe]

Awesome progression so far Steven, I think I have to go to the local nursery a bit more often
Did you use your wiring trick on this Euc and it still cut in quickly?
Happy to see a different Eucalypt progression to look out for
Cheers

[anttal63]

love this trunks character steven. i am also loving what ya doin with it. i can see youve zoned in on this trees rythm. nice! cant wait to see it in the near future.

[FlyBri]

Excellent work, Mr Steven!

It is unusual to find nursery Euc material with such character already apparent at the base. In my experience, nursery Eucs are fast grown, and as such present straight, boring trunks without taper or mature bark. On occasion, some misfortune will befall a potted Euc (overcrowding, massive drying, blowing over, etc) and it will find its way into the bargain bin, where the only folks stupid enough to give it a second glance are you and I and a handful of other fools.

Great stuff so far, and I look forward to seeing how you deal (have dealt with?) reducing the roots! Move over Ted Poynton!

Thanks!

Fly.

[Steven]

G'day again,

Did you use your wiring trick on this Euc and it still cut in quickly?

Not yet Bon, I was still mulling over the problem of effectively wiring the delicate, rapidly growing branches. Stay tuned...

love this trunks character steven.

Me too Antonio. When training a Eucalypt in this way, all you really need is a nice foundation (trunk) and the rest can be grown in a relatively short time.

I look forward to seeing how you deal (have dealt with?) reducing the roots!

This was another issue I was pondering. The common consensus seemed to be that gums were touchy if you trimmed the roots and therefor didn't make good bonsai. I had read that they should be defoliated or singed over a fire before root pruning and that the timing was crucial. I soon found out that this was not necessarily the case!



I removed the wire that was put on only a fortnight ago and found that the young branches had set! Some that had accidental snapped had continued to grow with awesome angles. I also noted that branches had set nicely where I had experimented with severe bending.

Here's a shot of the back after I removed the wires.

16.10.08 back view.jpg

I rewired some of the branches and coiled it on as loose as I could - so loose that it wasn't touching the branches in most places. I then shaped the wired branches including the first on right which was only a shoot 4 weeks ago.

16.10.08 after the second wiring.jpg

The loose wiring worked well in holding the branches in shape but it was pretty difficult and time consuming to put on. Being so loose the branches would be able to grow freely with no chance of the wire cutting in. I just had to come up with a faster, easier way of getting it on...

S.

[Deemon]

Awesome Steve. I've been waiting for this progression. Can't wait for the final pics!!

Great info.

[PeterH]

Steven ,

Has it de barked yet showing the new white bark.

Peter

[Steven]

Steven ,

Has it de barked yet showing the new white bark.

Peter

G'day Peter!

Thanks for your interest. Your Eucalypt bonsai have given me great inspiration over the years! I'd love to see a progression of your avatar E. nicholii - hint, hint...
This scoparia is currently shedding last years bark. This will be covered in a future post however here is a photo taken recently of the lower trunk.

13.01.10 shedding bark.jpg

Regards,
Steven

[PeterH]

Steven,

Unfortunately I did not take any pics in the early days of the nicholii. I only have pics from the first APAB exhibition.



Peter

[EdwardH]

I love the way the bark peels off our eucs. Especially when the trunk below has different colours on it.

[Jamie]

nice work steven! i really need to get a euc one day when i know that i wont kill it they seem to just keel over when i look at them

has anyone else or can see a cool gnarly face in this shot on the euc??? i reckon it looks great steven!! gotta be the front, gnarly tree face in a forest!

steveneuc.jpg

jamie

[Steven]

Another fortnight of growth and lots of new shoots formed which you can see clearly towards the top of the leader.

02.11.08.jpg

10 days later and the new shoots have elongated into little branches that are large enough to wire.

12.11.08.jpg

When I was last putting on the extra loose wire, I noticed that the coils could be screwed on or off the branches before they were bent. I decided to try making the coils first and then twisting them onto the branches. I looked around for something the right diameter, found a Phillips head screwdriver that was perfect then wrapped the wire around and around it then slipped it off the end. When pulled apart the wire looked spring like and perfectly suited to what I wanted.

Wire coiled, stretched and cut to length.jpg

Using a piece of 'spring' the same length as the branch to be wired, I started at the tip and twisted the wire gently towards the trunk. The technique worked surprisingly easily and was faster than conventional wiring.

Screwing the wire on.jpg

You can read my post titled Wiring Eucalyptus which covers cage wiring in more detail.

I continued to wire about 50% of the branches this way then bent and twisted them to try and mimic the way Gums naturally grow.

13.11.08.jpg

Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for another update soon.

Steven

[bonscythe]

nice work steven! i really need to get a euc one day when i know that i wont kill it they seem to just keel over when i look at them

has anyone else or can see a cool gnarly face in this shot on the euc??? i reckon it looks great steven!! gotta be the front, gnarly tree face in a forest!

steveneuc.jpg

jamie

I sure can see the face you speak of Jamie, reminds me of the Ahu statues on Easter Island. Tribal style..

Thanks for pointing that out man

[Jamie]

steven, a little question bout the gums, especieally those that peel bark, do you let this happen naturally or once it has started to come of do you take it off like defoliation? or can this cause damage to the smooth bark underneath like when ya pick at a scab?

sorry for the graphic sort of questioning its the only way i could figure out how to describe it


jamie

[Steven]

a little question bout the gums, especieally those that peel bark, do you let this happen naturally or once it has started to come of do you take it off like defoliation?

G'day Jamie,
I let it come off naturally cause I like the way the trunk looks when it is peeling. Others may treat them differently though...

Okay, back to the progression...

Another week of growth and a bit more wire;

20.11.08 after wireing.jpg

Here is a close up of the crown of the tree which shows the extent of bending and the ultra loose wire. If you look closely, you can also see 3 little friends

19.11.08 wiring detail and 3 friends.jpg

Another fortnight of growth and she is really starting to fill in. The branches are thickening nicely and the bark is starting to age also;

03.12.08 before work.jpg

Rather than tipping the elongated shoots, I compressed the wire a bit more to exaggerate the bends. So far, I haven't tipped any branches - the shape has all come from wiring.

04.12.08 after a bit more bending.jpg

A week later and I removed some of the older leaves from the inside of the tree (so the birds could fly through) but was careful not to take them from any branches that I wanted to fatten up;

10.12.08 (2).jpg

More to come shortly...

Regards,
Steven