AusBonsai

Hi all,
Just need some help with what im let to believe is an Allocasuarina littoralis I picked up from my new favourite local nursery. I picked it because it was the only one that wasn't straight up & down. The right hand shoot is still quite flexible so I guess a semi-cascade isn't out of the question, although they don't grow like that commonly so I'm lacking inspiration. Will needle (branchlet) placing be a problem with that kind of style?
Any suggestions greatly welcomed!
Cheers

I would take it out of it's pot and scrape a bit of soil of the surface. Stick a nice fat piece of wire maybe 3mm into the roots next to the trunk. wrap this nicely up the trunk at a 45 degree angle. Then bend and twist the trunk to add character. Let it grow out some and then chop back to a new leader. Then keep growing.
Oh at some stage you may want to put it back in the pot.

Id be wiring it and putting some movement in the trunk. once the bends set you could plant it in the garden for a wile and let it fatten up.
Dont rush it into a bonsai pot cause it wont fatten up much. I made this mistake early on
BB

good advice bb and brett. i can only add to use 2 * 3mm wire round the trunk and not next to each other but seperate so your covering more surface area. give this tree support and stong enough wire these trunks bend no prob. once every so often twist and bend some more. good luck look forward to seeing more of it.

bonscythe wrote:Will needle (branchlet) placing be a problem with that kind of style?

G'day Pat,

From my experience, you will have no problems growing new branchlets where you need then. The problem you will have is rubbing all the new growth off where you don't want it

How's it looking now? Have you done any work on it yet?

Regards,
Steven