AusBonsai

ozzy; thats gold!!!

Hi All
Great case study in euc culture. Thanks for recording and sharing Flybri. Much appreciate Dennis' input from his considerable experience.

I'd like to know if all species of eucs you've grown react the same way? Which species are you growing? Any chance of finding out what your little beauty is FlyBri? What are the eucs near your lady friend's garden that might have provided the seed (though it could be a hybrid, as often happens in suburban areas)?

I've found that all eucs don't react the same way. Some take a long time to recover from a repotting. Though I haven't exactly kept them flooded as your methods indicates - they have been kept pretty well watered. The difficult ones for me, in the repotting side, have been E. kruzeana, and E. rubida. They can take nearly a year to begin growing after repotting. Others, like E. polyanthemos and E. meliodora respond quickly with new growth.
Cheers
Kunzea

Hey mate
I think this tree is brilliant the trunk is so good and well tapered, it's not often though that you find eucs this good to collect. My opinion on the front I would say is the side you call the back, I think all the hollows and the roughness and movement in the trunk is better than the front. But the thing with the back as the front is that the first branch wouldn't work too well but then you could loose it and bend the right hand branch above it ( when veiwing from the back) down and shorten the upward facing branch( which I'm guessing is the future apex) and create a more compact apex there. But that's my opioion
exelent tree mate.

Hugh

Kunzea wrote:I'd like to know if all species of eucs you've grown react the same way? Which species are you growing? Any chance of finding out what your little beauty is FlyBri? What are the eucs near your lady friend's garden that might have provided the seed (though it could be a hybrid, as often happens in suburban areas)?

Gday Mr Kunzea!

Off the top of my head, I am currently growing:

► E. camaldulensis (River Red Gum) - These form the majority of my Euc collection, and their forms are quite variable, especially where the foliage is concerned. They seem to handle repotting readily, and will usually bounce back from complete defoliation (drying) and rootpruning within a couple of weeks. They layer easily, and do not appear to be bothered if they are placed deeper than the original soil level: I believe that both of these factors may be due to the fact that they can spend long periods of time with their roots/trunks submerged. I have repotted at different times of year, with fastest/best results during the warmer months.

► E. scoparia (Wallangara White Gum) - I have 5 of these planted together as a Mallee-style clump, and have only been working with them for a couple of years. I have repotted only once since the group was assembled from tubestock, and the trees did not miss a beat, despite the fact that I did not adhere to the Koreshoffs' observations regarding dormancy and/or defoliation.

► E. meliodora (Yellow Box) - As with the trees mentioned above, I have repotted this tree at various times of the year with no apparent ill-effects. I have usually reduced the foliage load to one or two set of leaves per branch during repotting, but am now wondering if that is necessary.

► E. sideroxylon (Red Iron Bark) - I have worked with this specimen for less than a year, but it has coped well with its first major root reduction. As can be seen in the link, a goodly amount of foliage was removed during the repot, and new buds shot within 5 weeks. In retrospect, I would probably not undertake such major work so late in Autumn, despite the good result I achieved.

► E. citriodora (Lemon Scented Gum) - I am growing 8 or so from tubestock I twisted together. I am yet to repot, so cannot comment.

► E. nicholii (Willow Leaf Peppermint) - I have about 8 (formerly 11-12) growing as post-bushfire Tanuki which has been repotted only once. At the time of rootpruning, the foliage load was reduced by around 80%, and the tree(s) showed no ill-effects. I reckon PeterH is the man to ask about this species.

► I may have missed some, but will report back later if anything comes to mind.

I have done a bit of research to try and get a positive ID for the tree in this thread, and my best guess at this moment is that it is a River Red, although I'm more than willing to be proved wrong.

I hope this helps.

Thanks.

Fly.

Gday folks!

It's been less than a week since repotting, and I already have news...

Well done FlyBri!
Some eucs are amazingly strong. Nice budding even on the narrowest old shoots.
Kunzea

Mr. Fly I remember when you kindly offered to rescue this tree from beside that wall. I think you offered the nice lady a replacement plant in its place. You have taken the tree a long way since then but it is now showing survival mode by chucking out new shoots after the 'brown leaf' display. My limited experience with natives is that I put them back in the ground or growbox to health them up for a couple of years. It is too good a tree to let go. I dips me lid for your intrepid excursions with our native trees. This of course is only my very humble opinion.

Ash

Gday folks!

When Jan mentioned Yellow Box (E. meliodora) in another thread, I was reminded of this tree, and thought I should pay it some attention today. (I'm now leaning towards Yellow Box for the tree's ID, but I may never know...)

Ash Barns wrote:[...]but it is now showing survival mode by chucking out new shoots after the 'brown leaf' display. My limited experience with natives is that I put them back in the ground or growbox to health them up for a couple of years. It is too good a tree to let go[...] This of course is only my very humble opinion.

Gday Mr Barns!

It would seem that this tree doesn't know about 'survival mode': it has powered on through the wettish Winter and early Spring, with no sign of slowing. One thing I find strange about this specimen is that it seems more than happy to throw vigorous shoots in any direction - up, down, sideways - as opposed to the received wisdom about Eucs being apically dominant.

Anyway, I had noticed that there was quite a lot of rot in the lower trunk, and decided that it was time to find out where the deadwood stopped and the live tissue started. The gnarly, old chunks of bark were only just holding onto the trunk, so I didn't feel too bad about prying them off in the name of experimentation...

Here are the photos:
Looking at the final photo, I reckon I could afford to carve out the 'shoulder' at the top of the deadwood and re-burn for effect, but I'll see what the next season's growth brings. I torched the wood pretty hard, so I will be interested to see what kind of grain movement I have exposed. For now, I'll be hitting the tree with a heavy dose of Dynamic Lifter and lots of H2O.

Thanks.

Fly.

Great tree Fly!

Natural shari's interests me indeed. Being Australia, I feel a style we could encompass could be fire aftermath. The unique look of the Australian bush regenerating with natural burnt shari's and bright green new growth, is an image most Australians have come to know well, some more-so than others.

Given the not just browned but charred effect you have currently achieved, I would interested to know, what you think of my noted style and it use with Australian natives.

I feel if we are to make take bonsai and make it our own, we indeed need to stamp our mark on it. I also feel the use of natural burnt/charred shari's could be our out here.


I think you will probably clean up the burnt area and return it to something more akin to traditional styles, yet it makes me think once again, how this burnt/bushfire look could be used to create a Australiana styling..

Your thoughts on the subject, would be appreciated.

gday mr fly

I really like this tree, your work with Australian natives especially Eucs is commendable

I love the charred charcoal look to your burning very interesting indeed

gday mitch

I dont know if you have gone through Lindsay Farrs website but there is a video there were he creates a great planting/setting that is a commemeration to sad bush fires we had not that long ago where some many of our fellow Australians lost there homes and lives. check it out, it is a sensational little setting and he actually used a matt black spray paint to reproduce the effect of the fires going through the bush and charring the trees.

jamie

Thanks for the heads up Jamie! Off to find it now.

FlyBri wrote:Looking at the final photo, I reckon I could afford to carve out the 'shoulder' at the top of the deadwood and re-burn for effect, but I'll see what the next season's growth brings. I torched the wood pretty hard, so I will be interested to see what kind of grain movement I have exposed.

Once I'm certain that I haven't damaged any living tissue from within, I'll hit the thing with a torch again. I'm considering packing the hollow with sphagnum to encourage rot and wood-eating critters, as the depth and shape of the hollow prevents me from performing any detailed carving.

Thanks!

Fly.

Nice Fly
I notice that a few leaves have little "Bubbles" on them. Any idea what this is?
I have a few Euc trees here and they have the same thing.

Ken