AusBonsai

Hi everyone

I picked up these two Callistemon from my local nursery in the 'forget about them' section - to my eye they had interesting lower trunks with some good bark - both about the 1-1.5 m height. They were labelled 'Callistemon Injune'.

Has anyone heard of this plant? I have no experience with Natives I can't find any on the forum but the Aust. Native Plant Society website quotes it as follows:

Callistemon 'Injune' is apparently an unnamed species or natural hybrid. Its taxonomic status has yet to be determined. It is a tall shrub to small tree with a weeping growth habit, usually up to 2-4 metres high. It has narrow lance-shaped leaves to about 7 cm in length. The pale pink bottlebrush-shaped flowers occur mainly in spring but a second flush in late summer/autumn is not unusual. The flowers fade to white as they age.Has anyone heard of or had experience growing this species? I'If i don't get much response from members then i'll just carve my own way and be the first for the forum and will treat them as other Callistemon as per forum notes and advice.

Any info and advice appreciated - when to trunk chop, root work and fertilizing regime - i must keep looking through the native section more as well. Not sure how far down i can chop safely and if this is a good time of year to do so. considering some height to make the weeping nature more evident....

But hey, for $10 bucks each i couldn't go wrong

Cheers

Stew

They look like they could be extremely root bound but be careful not to remove too much root in one go. My experience with them is they don't like too much root pruned off and will sulk for a while afterwards. I would leave some foliage on it when you chop and it should be OK to do both at the same time. Free draining mix and be careful with not too much fertiliser and I would steer clear of high phosphate (P) fertiliser.

Tony

G,day Stew, yes I have heard of it, no I have not grown it. It is one of the many Callistemon cultivars, which by the way outnumber the species now. This tree should be treated as all callistemons as they are very hardy, according to John W. Wrigley and Murray Fagg, they need plenty of water to flower.

There is a post of mine on how I treat them, and how to re pot when and also on the pruning. In the native pages under Callistemon.

Cheers Pup

Hi Bougy and Pup

Thanks very much for the advice - i will go over (many times) your posting Pup . At this stage I will repot with minimal root disturbance and slip into a larger slightly shallower orchid plastic pot i have obtained.The mix i plan to use is a 1:1 Diatomite and commercial bagged bonsai mix - i'll water in with seasol and keep in the shade till it looks happier. Trunk chop will keep several branches with the view to further reduction as the tree progresses and heals. I'll horizontal cut i think.

i'll post after pics in the coming weeks (assuming there is an after )

Cheers

Stew