AusBonsai

Bougy Fan wrote:With the new red growth I would concur with Pup - but have no idea what species.

thanks bougy
thats interesting that you and pup are thinking long the same line
it didn't even occur to me that it was a callistemon i guess iv e never seen one with such small foliage
looking at photos online and it looks sooooooo very much like a lemon scented tea tree but no smell and red foliage would say other wise

cheers
matt

bodhidharma wrote:I have on numerous occasions, taken a tree out of its pot and cut off a 100mm piece off the bottom and put it back into fresh soil, fed it and watch it roar back into life. Even later than this time of year. Trees are tougher than we think.

I agree, definatly will not hurt to take some of the root ball but I would not severly strees the tree until it sghows signs of good health. People often think that root bound will stress a tree severly. This is not very correct. a root bound tree will need some adjustment to care such as very heavy watering or even soaking to ensure the water is adequate but it can still grow VERY healthy. So i always recomend getting the tree healthy before any stressfull repotting is done.
Good luck it surely could be anything from here even a show stopper

hey everyone

thanks for all the feed its very much appreciated

so the flower buds have been swelling for a while now and has just put out its first flower
hopefully now i can get a positive id and ill be able to give it a good chop in spring
its put on new growth slowly but all new growth is looking very healthy

any help would be fantastic
cheers
matt

Hi Matty,

thats looking a lot like a Leptospermum, although I'm not talented enough to tell you which I'm afraid! I'm sure there will be someone along soon enough to pick it out. In the meantime you can have a look through this species guide which might give you some hints:
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-b ... ptospermum

Hey Steve thanks for the link mate much appreciated

Cheers
Matt

G'day Matty . Definitely a leptospermum . Looks like a cultivar of a few different varieties . If you google Bywong nursery that may help.
Cheers Craig

Could be a Lepto Spectabile?



http://www.yallaroo.com.au/Leptospermum_spectabile.htm

thanks for the feedback much appreciated

i definitely agree its a leptospermum, its very similar to the "spectacle"

cheers
matt

hey everyone!!

now that the wether is warming up i was thinking of doing some work on this tree, a big chop is required and a repot, can a lepto be cut back to bare wood? it has back budded have way down the trunk but i want to chop a lot lower, also i've read lepto can be tricky to repot, i was thinking of sawing off the bottom half of the roots and teasing out the sides ad re potting into 3-1-1 diatomite, pumice, zeolite.
any thoughts or ideas are very much appreciated!!!
cheers
matt

This is likely to be one of the L. spectabile hybrids, possibly Leptospermum 'mesmereyes' which is a bit more upright.

I know a couple of members have posted about probems cutting roots of Leptospermum but I have not experienced any so far with the ones I am using. I have pruned off up to 3/4 of the roots without any problems (mostly Nov, Dec and Jan). If you have not done so yet, start by scraping the surface until you find where the main surface roots grow from the trunk. Cutting blindly through the rootball can be a disaster if the plant was potted deep last time it was potted on.

Some of the Leptos will bud back on bare wood while others do not. If in doubt I would cut back to the lowest live shoot. That will usually be enough to stimulate budding further down if the variety is able to. Then you can cut further when the buds have grown a bit. If it does not bud you will still have a live tree, even if it is abit bigger than planned.