AusBonsai

Here are some hot out of the beginning-of-rain-showers pics of my Gmnostoma. It is 8 years old from nursery stock, so might be 10 years in total.
It's in a fairly shallow pot and I don't have real issues with it requiring above average water. I'd say it 'tolerates' being 'wet' more than 'demands' being wet. A bit like the river she oak: it grows down by the rivers with its roots in the flowing water, but it grows just as happily high up on a dry limestone hill 50m above the water. My bonsai soil is probably a bit atypical in that I use the garden vegie soil as the basis so have a bit of clay and silt in the mix, plus a lot of compost. I add zealite or similar plus coarse sand to open it up a bit but I avoid excessively draining soils or the dreaded 'drought' gets them.

Nice tree Roger. I am glad you have been able to get it down into a shallow pot with it still being very healthy. This is what i was trying to do because I think the shallow pot matches the delicacy of the species. Ash

Roger,

Now that is a nice looking tree, great work with getting it to this stage. It really does have the same feel as the one in the SBG photo.

Maybe your atypical soil mix might be part of your success, the garden soil & compost would contribute to more moisture holding than some of the freer draining mixes I or many of us use for our trees.

Matt

During my afternoon talk with the trees, this one told me she wasnt happy in her chosen spot, could I find her somewhere more suited. A hard task when your 2mtr tall, but I scanned my yard for a likely home... This morning both seem much happier for the union, the pine had been growing with other nursery stock around its lower limbs & the wisteria had always hugged a mature cedar. If only they could survive together in a pot

Matt

I forgot to mention, I will be collecting seed from this tree so if anyone wants any shoot me a PM with your address & I will get some away for you.

Matt

I know this is an older topic but I would like to hear from anyone about how this tree responds to chopping ,and would you treat this like a pine re styling
Thanks in advance
Barry

Hi Barry

Not quite sure what you mean by 'chopping'. However, my experience is a bit limited in any case. I have only the one tree and haven't gone extreme cutting on it.

It has shot back on old wood, well back from any green. Shooting from the trunk at the junction with branches has been common, but shooting just behind the cut of a branch has been most common.

It can take quite a few weeks for regrowth to happen when I've pruned just some branches back beyond green wood. This pruning was without any disturbance to the roots - ie no repotting or root pruning.

It has responded well to repotting/root pruning, with light cutting back of canopy at the same time - balancing the reductions top and bottom, so to speak.

As for styling, for me, I'd forget about 'pine'. It isn't a pine and only extremely remotely related to one. Look elsewhere for inspiration. Check out web sites for images of mature trees in the wild and in parks. For me, when I want a pine bonsai, I've grown a real pine. Not everyone sees things this way though.

Cheers
Roger

PS
Where in 'Australia' do you come from? Just to get a sense of where this species is being grown.

Thanks Roger for your reply ! we live in Bundaberg and have only more recently gotten back into bonsai after many years
I do find this forum to very helpful especially when it comes to natives

Barry

Barry thanks for asking the same question I was going to ask.
Roger, as always your information is immensely helpful.

Its been a while since I updated this one. It was planted in the ground around april last year as the ideal spot was found to let her grow. It took a while to adjust to the new angle but has made significant growth over the last year, nothing like others in the family but still noticable. I recently set a layer on an unwanted branch coming from the middle of the 2 main lines, if successful I plan to do the same on another branch. Then I can experiment with some serious bending on the long lanky piece I have to work with The tree is best viewed from my office, sorry its not the best pic, couldnt be ... cleaning the windows . Matt

Thanks for reigniting this subject Matt ...these really are a beautiful tree that I believe should be made more use of

Barry

Hi All

Thought i would put in my 2 cents relating to this tree, i repotted it 2nd week of spring and it has done well so far, the copper coloured wire was the wrong gauge 3mm and didn't give me enough control, the recent wire i put on the silver coloured one 5mm made such a difference allowing me to give it a lower bend. Well i can definitely see the difference dont know if others will, I found the tree to be very hardy, im curious to see how it will grow and ramify.

Hey Ben,
Thanks for adding your . As you will have seen in the thread, mine has been planted in the ground but even there I give it extra water. It seems to be constantly growing, as soon as one lot hardens off it shoots again. Fluffy clouds of foliage that is very delicate to touch, after heavy wind & rain I always have a carpet of broken small branches, it soon recovers with doubled growth. The air layer I tried didn't take & the branch slowly died, tempted to try again using a different method and hopefully the different season may also benefit it.

If you look to Roger's post above he gives lots of great info on general care and shows it doesn't take that long to grow a really good example as a bonsai. I look forward to seeing yours progress over time, feel free to post updates here, its great to have it all together.