AusBonsai

So a couple of months ago I picked up this beauty! It was wasting away at the back of a local nursery and they sold it to me for $20. I figured at that price, even if it is just a practice tree it is worth it.

This is my first Mal. and I think it has some good potential, so I'd like as much advice as I can get on it. It is seriously pot bound, but otherwise, I'm not sure I know enough about Mals to know how healthy it is.






For the record, I'm more than happy to be patient with my trees, so if the advice is to give it some time in the ground, that is easily done. Thanks!

Lovely tree and I do not think it needs the ground
The trunk looks large enough to me

Ken

kcpoole wrote:Lovely tree and I do not think it needs the ground
The trunk looks large enough to me

Ken

Thanks Ken,

Re: planting in the ground
I was thinking less growth, and more about rehabbing if the tree needed to get healthier before working on it.

I agree with Ken, Reduce the trunk quite a lot, repot into fresh mix and feed it well to get lots of new growth to go with that trunk. All that could be done in 1 go some time between Oct and Dec.

What is a mal?

Boics wrote:What is a mal?

haha! this typo brought to you by the toddlers swarming around my feet as I posted!!

eddieperth wrote:

Boics wrote:What is a mal?

haha! this typo brought to you by the toddlers swarming around my feet as I posted!!

We are past that typo fine, what species? I cannot see the foliage that well.

Pup

Pup wrote:
We are past that typo fine, what species? I cannot see the foliage that well.

Pup

Melaleuca rhaphiophylla was what it was labelled as at Lullfitz, but I don't know my Mels that well yet. From what I've read, it looks like a rhaph to me.

eddieperth wrote:

Pup wrote:
We are past that typo fine, what species? I cannot see the foliage that well.

Pup

Melaleuca rhaphiophylla was what it was labelled as at Lullfitz, but I don't know my Mels that well yet. From what I've read, it looks like a rhaph to me.

Break one of the needles and see if it is hollow, if it is, it is Rhaphiophylla, they are prolific growers take hard pruning, like plenty of water fertiliser ( just watch the Phosphates) although with Government restrictions I do not think you have to worry. If it has plenty of new growth cut it back, not past the green.
If you put into a bigger pot with good growing mix it will respond well.

Cheers Pup

Hey Pup, thanks for the info!

Am I alright to repot it now?

What time of year is best for me to prune it back?

eddieperth wrote:Hey Pup, thanks for the info!

Am I alright to repot it now?

What time of year is best for me to prune it back?

Now if it growing which it should be. Also the repot. You can wait for the repot till it warms up more if you wish.

Cheers PUP

Eddie, your Rhaph is probably just about to shoot if it hasn't started already. I would start by feeding the tree with some fertiliser and some seasol , give it a couple of feeds over the next couple of weeks and some good sunshine(the more the better). Give it a feed and let the new growth come through.
In a couple of weeks when the temps start to pick up cut "everything" off, unless you want to keep the long main trunk cut that aswell maybe a little higher than the red line.Do not repot, use the existing root mass to provide the extra growing power. At this time of year in WA this tree will definately backbud on the bare branches, this will bring the foliage into an area where it will be of use to you .Backbudding on the main trunk may be rather hit n miss tho you should get new shoots high near the cut and hopefully some break through down low (fingers crossed). This will be a very safe way to reduce the height of your new tree this Spring.
Leave the repot until early summer or even next year, it really won't matter. All in your hands now

Thanks for the great advice Bonsaitrees! Your virt cuts were exactly what I had in mind.

So yeah, before I read what you wrote....I repotted it this afternoon!

I just felt like the tree was that rootbound/compacted...when I would water it the water would stand on the surface of the soil for up to half an hour! So I felt like that was more important than a hair cut. If I've missed my window to give it a hard prune/style, I'm happy to wait til next year.

So I had to cut the pot off it with a box cutter and was greeted by a nearly solid mass of roots. I used a saw to cut about 20% off the bottom, and then tried to tease out what little soil was in there. I also tried to trim out the fattest roots...though the root ball is still WAY too big compared to what it will need to be to get it into a bonsai pot one day.

I've put it into a slightly larger pot than it was previously in and watered it well with Seasol.

So now that's done, how long should I wait before a hard prune?

And how should I go about cutting the main trunk? Should I cut it at an angle so the scar will be towards the back? Never done anything like this before.

Sounds like it still has a decent amout of roots so I'd cut the top off the tree now and just leave the rest as is .If you cut slightly higher up where it changes to a grey coloured younger bark it'll be better .Cut on an angle towards which ever direction you feel right, don't worry about cutpaste.
good luck.

The big chop was done in late October and then this baby has been left to do its thing for the summer. Here's the result:




The question now is; where do we go from here?
I still feel like it might be too tall. The growth is quite leggy. The root ball is seriously compacted, but that's more of a long term issue, as I don't intend to repot this year.

As always, suggestions welcome!