Syzygium australe from cutting

[Ash]

Syzygium australe.jpg

This Syzygium australe was grown from a cutting in 2003 to be a tall skinny tree in a small mixed 'rainforest' composition. The composition did not work because it had too many different species in it, so I removed this tree from the group in 2005 and started to grow it as a single trunked slanting style bonsai, leaning to the left and with roots lifted up on the right hand side and most of the branches on the right. My idea is to emulate a leaning Alstonia scholaris or Milky pine which is a tall tree that has this type of branching of foliage pads with only the lower most branches downswept, a roughly triangular shape but with a flat top. This tree is very strong and the top needs thinning and reducing every couple of months to bring it into shape and to direct strength to the lower branches especially the one on the lowest right. The first branch on the left is being 'grown out' at present to thicken it and will be shortened a bit when it has enough strength. The tree shoots from the base all the time and I let them grow to thicken the roots and then chop them off again for photos.

I have found leaf reduction is excellent in this species and it wires well, stem prunes well and root prunes well too. Unfortunately it is high maintenance and I have to thin and trim leaf shoots every week. It is watered every single day and fertilized every fortnight with seasol and charlie carp when I fertilize the fernhouse/orchidhouse.
Ash

[ozzy]

Its definately top heavy, looks like it just wants to fall over under its own weight, really needs the foliage to be reduced at the top, would be a credible bonsai then.

[Taffy]

Good one Ash.

I reckon the Australe is the best Lilli Pilli I've found so far. They are almost bullet proof and will take a fair bit of hacking about on the canopy and the roots, then bounce back stronger than ever. Another thing I've found with mine is that it hasn't had a single pest infestation, no leaf damage or anything else.

[Graeme]

What a great tree Ash, credit to you mate. I now have to go find myself one of these Syzygium australe things now.

[boom64]

Fantastic tree Ash.
Love the style your achieving.
I have had 2 for the last two years boy they sure are tough.Especially as i am a novice and they have come out smileing after the treatment i have dished out to them.
Thanks for showing.
John.

[Jerry Meislik]

Ash,
It is a wonderful tree. Congratulations.
Jerry

[Ash]

Thanks Ozzy, Taffy, Graeme, John and Jerry,

Ozzy I have thinned the crown many times and I will do it again to leave more space and to stop the top branches thickening too much. In a bonsai with a vertical trunk I would be happy for the density it has but as it is it gets too heavy too quickly.

Tman just like you I have had very few pests on Syzygium australe. Psyllids do infest this species but I have never had them on this tree. Sometimes it gets a bit of scale but the infestation is easy to clean up. You can prune into hard wood without losing sleep about it.

For those who don't have one- go and get one from your local nursery!

cheers
Ash

[Ash]

The following photograph is of my Syzygium australe after a trim and thinning to show the branches a little bit more clearly. This is the angle and straightness of trunk that is most like the original milky-pine tree that I saw that made me want to grow a steeply slanting bonsai. That tree was lost in Larry and I have no photographs of a slanting specimen only bolt upright powerful trees.

Syzygium after thinning.jpg

However whilst training it I had a previous front as shown in the photograph below. This front was not suitable at the time because of branch placement and lack of roots but now that more branches have grown and matured it may have become the better front. It shows more of the movement that has developed from top pruning and it creates some more depth by having a front branch. However the tree leans towards you now so if and when I replant it this way it will need to be adjusted slightly.

Syzygium front change.jpg

See my next post on branches

regards
Ash

[Ash]

The two photographs below show 'milky-pines' Alstonia scholaris growing in a paddock. They are a marvelous tree but are not held in high esteem because there timber is of little value. In my time they withstood cyclone Winifred, Larry, Ingrid, Hamish and others, they loose the leaves and little branchlets but the trunk and main outspread branches remain intact.

What I am trying to capture is their branch structure. The branches themselves spread out horizontally from the trunk and raise up in little steps or drop down in little steps. I have done this on the mid branches of my tree. There is more than one 'pad' or foliage on each branch creating many tiers of foliage. They are apically dominant so produce a triangular outline with a small upraised apex sticking out the top. The lowest branch or lower branches on some of them have a secondary pad hanging much further down than the previous ones. See the tree on the hill for this, I have done this on the first right hand branch on my tree and to a lesser extent on the second. The trunk is always straight below the first branch and only meanders slightly as it rises from there.

Alstonia sholaris outlines.jpg

Alstonia scholaris on hill.jpg

In general I don't try to capture one native species model using another as the bonsai but in this case I had no luck with producing finer foliage on Alstonia scholaris and the effect was just not going to happen. So I have jumped across a couple of families and chosen a Syzygium because the leaf shape and colour is similar and the mature bark is similar.

I will dig out a photo of one just after Larry dropped in.

cheers
Ash