Don Deluca Workshops[postponed till further notice]

[Gerard]

Dissapointed that Don was unable to make it, I hope he is on the road to recovery.

We had no workshop but I did have a tree for which I had a sketchy plan. My radiata which I planted at an angle after collecting was repotted and styled as a formal upright. I have used one of the pots kindly donated by Nick last week which will be a perfect "growing pot" for the next two or three years

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It is my plan to turn the apex into a jin and reduce the number of branches. I have taken into consideration that the tree has just been repotted and decided to keep lots of branches for now. I will retain many branches which are budding close to the trunk and selectively remove others one or two at a time.

We do not often see a formal upright done well informal styles are more forgiving.
I think this material is well suited so decided to take on the challenge.

After all if I muck up ......it is Dons fault

[Grant Bowie]

Hi Grant,I will be workshopping two old Tee Trees on Saturday with Don ,any tips on bending thicker branches.
Thanks John Mackie

Sorry John,

I missed this thread completely.

i haven't bent a leptospermum yet but it is now on my list.

If it is young and hasn't musceld up yet (live veins) you might try the trunk splitting technique of splitting all the way through to the centre with trunk splitters at 180 degrees and again at 360 degrees. Bind very, very tight with rubber, heavy grafting tape and then overwrap again with vet tape; put on some heavy wire and bend!

If the live veins are prominent you would have to

After seeing the Chinese master visiting Melbourne do it a couple of years ago i have been doing it frequently with Junipers and haven't killed one yet. (we did about 4 last weekend at Bonsai by The harbour so I shall await reports on the success of those ones)

Grant

[Roger]

Hi John
I'd be most interested to see how you go if you follow Grant's advice. Junipers are so soft and flexible in their wood, while the tea trees quickly become both brittle and hard, making bending very difficult, but also raising the risk of the stem simply shattering. If the stem is broken into smaller pieces, as Grant's method would do, maybe there will be enough flexibility to allow bending without shattering, and then heal over the wounds. My experience with other leptos is that they heal wounds to the trunk/branches, but generally very slowly.

Good luck and keep us all posted!

Roger

[John Henry]

Hi All,called in to see Don he is doing great so got some advice from QV and a few others that were visiting about the Tee Tree that i was going to work shop with Don so this is what i ended up with ,a lot less wiring now.
Thanks john M

[Roger]

Great outcome, John. Looking forward to seeing it develop now. Also, and still, if you do any splitting and bending of tea trees, please let us know.

Good to see that Don is on the mend.
Roger

[John Henry]

Hi Roger,Did some experimenting with bending on the branches that were to be removed,i drilled out two,under cut two then bound with rubber very tight then slowly bent, they all snapped without warning the branch thickness ranged from 15 to 30mm this was very old wood thinner branches bend ok.
Thanks John m

[anttal63]

Thats much better John! Didnt catch that movement in the previous pics at all.