AusBonsai

Sunday Demo,
Sunday morning I pruned and wired this melaleuca ericafolia. Work began in Sept 2015 it has come a long way in 7 months

Gerard wrote:

treeman wrote: to everyone involved. Some very nice specimens there! I'm going to do more natives

I thought Treeman was beyond corruption.

Yeah, go on Mike. Get into them! More great growers growing great natives please.

Some really beautiful trees on display there. some look like they could do with a lot more growing and ramifying though, but on the flip side I'm sure the owners are pleased to display them so far.

It would be fantastic if we had a native club here in NSW.

EDIT - By the way Gerard, I love how you are styling that Mel in the last update. Just beautiful.

Was # 46 ground grown at any stage?

Hi Treeman, No. 46, the Prickly Paperbark, has never been ground grown. It was nursery stock in the early 1970's and was immediately trained as a bonsai. For a lot of that time it was, in fact, under potted and probably did not receive optimum watering. Eight years ago it received a drastic make over and was also potted into a more appropriate pot. The trunk has since increased in girth by about 50% and the foliage density has increased also. It is now a very large bonsai. Hope this helps.

Thanks Gerrard
Really enjoyed looking and reading all the details of the trees in your exhibition.
Thanks
Fiona

fae wrote:Thanks Gerrard
Really enjoyed looking and reading all the details of the trees in your exhibition.
Thanks
Fiona

Seconded.

I would love to see this sort of effort put in to photographing and providing info from the growers at other shows around the country.

Cheers,
Mojo

grim the elder wrote:Hi Treeman, No. 46, the Prickly Paperbark, has never been ground grown. It was nursery stock in the early 1970's and was immediately trained as a bonsai. For a lot of that time it was, in fact, under potted and probably did not receive optimum watering. Eight years ago it received a drastic make over and was also potted into a more appropriate pot. The trunk has since increased in girth by about 50% and the foliage density has increased also. It is now a very large bonsai. Hope this helps.

Hi there GTE, I haven't seen many Prickly Paperbark as bonsai. I have always loved the tree in the landscape. I have plenty of questions if you would like to help answer a few or all of them, I would be most grateful.

I have a few interesting looking M. styphelloides growing wild at our place, they are mostly fairly young trees with 2-3 inch trunks. I was wondering do they collect well, how severely can the roots be reduced both at collection and when repotting, can large branches be removed and do they re-sprout from dormant or adventitious buds, how do you think they would be as shohin, do they backbud and retain interior shoots well to prevent bare internal branches?

Cheers,
Mojo

grim the elder wrote:Hi Treeman, No. 46, the Prickly Paperbark, has never been ground grown. It was nursery stock in the early 1970's and was immediately trained as a bonsai. For a lot of that time it was, in fact, under potted and probably did not receive optimum watering. Eight years ago it received a drastic make over and was also potted into a more appropriate pot. The trunk has since increased in girth by about 50% and the foliage density has increased also. It is now a very large bonsai. Hope this helps.

Thanks Mr Grim!

A very, very concise description and photography Gerard. Did you score the day off? A great show and great effort on your behalf.

Mojo Moyogi wrote: I have a few interesting looking M. styphelloides growing wild at our place, they are mostly fairly young trees with 2-3 inch trunks. I was wondering do they collect well, how severely can the roots be reduced both at collection and when repotting, can large branches be removed and do they re-sprout from dormant or adventitious buds, how do you think they would be as shohin, do they backbud and retain interior shoots well to prevent bare internal branches?

Cheers,
Mojo

This was discussed at length at this weeks club meeting, Australian natives are generally extremely difficult to collect due to very poor root structure (when compared to stock grown from seed) the main exception would be the melaleuca's which seem to be easy to collect. Back budding can be very strong and new roots develop quickly they should be kept moist and don't be afraid to allow multiple trunks.