Digging melaleuca claret top

[DaveL]

Hey guys,

I had to cut back a 10foot tall claret top a few months a go to make way for some new fencing I put in. Unfortunately where I decided to put my gate is right in front of him, making the side access a little awkward for dragging a mower through. So he has to be moved and rather than waste such a thick trunk I would really like to pot him.

He has back budded really well from such a sever cut. All of the growth you can see in the pictures have been from 3-4 months max, which is fantastic considering how cold it has been in Brisbane lately.

Now that it is starting to warm up a bit here I am after some advice on how best to excavate him in a short time, but not risking his health too much. My current plan is to spade around the root ball in the next week, wait a few months until it is warmer and then hopefully have enough feeder roots in close to lift him entirely. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!

[Jamie]

Hi mate,

If the tree is in a moist ground area you should have some good feeder roots already, its when they have to search for water is when it gets hard, long roots with little to no feeders near the trunk when they are in dry conditions.

aussie natives can have up to 8 growth spurts a year and what you did wth you severe cutting is spur the tree into regeneration, it looks very healthy after the cuts were made!

if you arent to phased about going around it with the mower and going through the gate then give it a good spade around and water well, this will encourage the finer feeder roots and you could probably lift it by mid spring i would presume

hope that helps some

Jamie

[DaveL]

Fantastic Jamie. Sounds like a plan.

Is there anything else I can do to encourage more surface roots closer to the trunk? ie. mulching, fertilizing?

[kcpoole]

If you can wait then go for you your plan, spade it and lift in a few months. You could lift it now if you want tho.
If you do not want the remainder of the trunk / Stump in your final plan then I would remove it now tho. Less weight to move round

Very nice and and great to see people collecting natives and giving them a go

Ken