AusBonsai

Hi soltan,

I saw a little boy in one of the pictures. I meant to say I am taller than him... I meant it as a joke, but
it did not come out right...

Regards,

Viet.

How is this She-oak looking now Brett? Has it responded well after the root prune?

S.

It recoverd no worries. It has not been as vigorous as I whould have hoped. Maybe the pot is not big enough or it is waiting for it to heat up again. I would have thought there was enough of the summer season left to kick a bit faster. I think I will leave in the pot and see what it does this season. Maybe some refined growth will do it good.
Grow Damit

I thought it was time for a trim and a wire for this. Since a slightly bigger pot had just become available I thought I might as well slip pot it to give it a little extra space for growth.
The new soil is a mix of terracotta and granite in 2-4mm also propagating sand size and some Chadlers kitty litter in the 2-3 mm size.

Nice Bretts, and thanks for posting. I just collected a couple of sheoaks too. They are in grow baskets for now.

Thanks Kvan.
I have recently heard that people are having trouble collecting these? I wish they never said anything as I have had no trouble yet

good to see the young fella in on it, maybe anoter future bonsai nut?? got his hand up volunteering to clean up after dad is he...??

G'day Brett,

She is coming along nicely. I'm interested to see how well it will shape up after the recent hard prune. Personally, I would have left more length on the branches and wired for shape. I would have finger pruned the foliage back to 3 or 4 nodes on each branchlet to encourage ramification. But hey... different strokes for different folks. I'm not saying what you have done is wrong, just that my approach would have been different.

Bretts wrote:I have recently heard that people are having trouble collecting these?

This is news to me... I have had 100% success rate collecting C. cunninghamiana and C. equisetifolia. I think it all comes down to the after care - keep moist but not wet and out of the wind for a few weeks.

Regards,
Steven

That's a good point Steven. I tend to grow my branches with a clip and grow method + wire. I guess I believe I will get better branch taper and ramification that way.
Take the first left branch. From here, next prune it will have about two branches then next after that it will have about 4 branches.
I just thought that was the way to do it

I am not a great drawer but this is something like I see the difference.
The top branch has had about three cut and grows and the bottom one has had one cut and grow. The taper should be much better and also a more natural ramification. Build branches like we build a trunk.
He was talking about a different tree. (although not many know the carpinus is in the same family as the casuarina ) But Peter Adams explains this as wire grow 100mm cut and wire again. I figure it is how to get the best natural movement for most styles.

This got another trim and wiring today. I will have to get serious about woking out the final angle next time.

can you tell us more about baroca please

Coming along Bretts! Don't leave those decisions too late. Nothing worse than what could have been? No real detriment though.

Time this one got a nice pot

Nice match!
Trees developing well, can't wait to see it fill out more, certainly has the trunk to do it now.

thats looks great Brett, I like the sight upwards movement of the branches. Now you have lifetime of pinching ahead of you.
Craigw