Advice on melaleuca incana Dwarf variety

[Josh]

I picked up this Mel "Incana" the other week. It is slightly pot bound so needs a repot. Can I do that now How much of the roots can I safely take off My plan is for a wind swept look probably planted in a cresent pot. The branches are brittle but I'll get enough movement to do what I want with the base tilted slightly.

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Also do these back bud much, on old wood or only new growth

Thanks in advance
Josh

[marcela]

Hi Josh,
You can repot it now as we seem to be over the worst of the heat but to be on the safe side keep it in a sheltered position. As far as styling hard to tell, i always find it difficult to comment from photos but if you cut back to at least a pair of leaves you should get back budding .
Post on the facebook page for the native club and see what other responses you get.
I like this species as the foliage is so small already.
Our next meeting is a workshop so bring it then if you want other opinions.
Marcela

[Jason]

Have a couple myself, one bonsai the rest in grow pots, but am still learning about them, so can't really comment as yet. They make great bonsai though, have seen a couple of really nice ones

[Josh]

Hi Josh,
You can repot it now as we seem to be over the worst of the heat but to be on the safe side keep it in a sheltered position. As far as styling hard to tell, i always find it difficult to comment from photos but if you cut back to at least a pair of leaves you should get back budding .
Post on the facebook page for the native club and see what other responses you get.
I like this species as the foliage is so small already.
Our next meeting is a workshop so bring it then if you want other opinions.
Marcela

Thanks Marcela, will do. It is an interesting tree and will be interesting to see what others think. The foliage is what caught my eye and the twisted trunks as well. The trunks are fairly brittle so any movement will be over a period of time.

Have a couple myself, one bonsai the rest in grow pots, but am still learning about them, so can't really comment as yet. They make great bonsai though, have seen a couple of really nice ones

Post a pic of what you have. I'd be interested to see what you have done with yours.

Josh

[Jason]

Keeping in mind I'm a beginner I don't often post my tree's as I'm not very confident in them as yet

I purchased it about a year ago, so am still making it mine, have only trimmed and removed a couple of clashing branches so far. When I bought it the wire had been left on too long, so its still recovering from that and my efforts at removing it. It has gone a little wild, and is in need of a new round of wiring... which I'll probably do this weekend, but will hopefully be a great tree one day

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Despite my love for natives, its my only native 'bonsai' that I have (the rest are in grow/nursery pots or the like), so is my pride an joy

[Josh]

Keeping in mind I'm a beginner I don't often post my tree's as I'm not very confident in them as yet

I purchased it about a year ago, so am still making it mine, have only trimmed and removed a couple of clashing branches so far. When I bought it the wire had been left on too long, so its still recovering from that and my efforts at removing it. It has gone a little wild, and is in need of a new round of wiring... which I'll probably do this weekend, but will hopefully be a great tree one day

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Despite my love for natives, its my only native 'bonsai' that I have (the rest are in grow/nursery pots or the like), so is my pride an joy

Thanks for sharing. It looks great and has a great future. Very nice looking tree. Don't be afraid to post pics of trees, I was the same till I learnt it was the best way to learn and get advise.

Josh.

[Jason]

Thanks for sharing. It looks great and has a great future. Very nice looking tree. Don't be afraid to post pics of trees, I was the same till I learnt it was the best way to learn and get advise.

Josh.

Thanks Josh I've also got a couple of tubestocks that are growing out, but they are nothing to post about They look really nice in flower too, I only got a couple on mine last season, but they are well sized for bonsai

[Bonsaitrees (Craig)]

Hi Josh,
Mel incana's are reluctant to backback onto older wood prolificly. They do backbud somewhat from my experience but don't risk a total foliage removal .It would be great to see all the trunks wired and trained as a Clump.

[Roger]

Hi All
My experience with M incana has been with three variants. The basic species: grows well in pots; takes well to root pruning and branch pruning. I've cut back all branches back to wood perhaps 3-3 cm diameter. It buds back moderately well. A few of the branches produced new shoots that eventually died after growing to about 5 cm; the others are doing well. Easy to wire in first 2-3 years, after that branche become hard and brittle.

I've also tried with two cultivars: one is velvet carpet and the other I don't recall the name. They both have been quite similar in that the wood I extremely brittle, but almost in the sense of succulent turgid brittle. They snap very easily even when bent a little. So shaping must be done early. They both shoot back vigorous on old wood, well beyond green leaves, though you can be surprised and get a few branches that don't. So being a bit flexible in your planning is an advantage .

Foliage is wonderful. Each variant has a different shade of green/grey-green. Their flowers are great too: various light yellows and white with yellow. Small and appropriate to tree size for me.

No photos today, as I can't seem to load them.

Roger

[Josh]

Thanks for the comments guys. Bit of a change coming up I feel bring it on. Appreciate the help as always.

Josh.

[Jason]

Thanks for the comments guys. Bit of a change coming up I feel bring it on. Appreciate the help as always.

Josh.

Will be great to see where you take it mate, will be watching this thread keenly Already confirmed some things I suspected, without me needing to figure it out the hard way (like the brittle braches)

[Rory]

I am just amazed Josh at how much stock you acquire and primarily dig up too on your posts. Its great to see someone who has only been into bonsai for 1 year showing such passion. I truly wish I had more time to attend to my little horticultural delights like you do. Awesome effort.

[Josh]

Thanks for the comments guys. Bit of a change coming up I feel bring it on. Appreciate the help as always.

Josh.

Will be great to see where you take it mate, will be watching this thread keenly Already confirmed some things I suspected, without me needing to figure it out the hard way (like the brittle braches)

I have found some branches brittle and some are not although not much difference in thickness. Its a matter of slowly does it. Bend and rest, bend some more and rest...

I am just amazed Josh at how much stock you acquire and primarily dig up too on your posts. Its great to see someone who has only been into bonsai for 1 year showing such passion. I truly wish I had more time to attend to my little horticultural delights like you do. Awesome effort.

Thanks Bonsaibuddyman. I think my 1 year age is wrong, does anyone know if that is meant to automatically update or am I meant to update each year. I was doing bonsai for about a year when I joined and have been on here for 2 years so I guess that makes me 3 years old in bonsai terms. Might have to ask Steven about the age thing.
As for trees, well I'm a scab-I keep an eye out for anything I can get at a bargain price. I look for nurseries that are out of the way or in small country towns cause they don't keep everything neat and tidy. You can find some great buys, but the trick is knowing what could make a good bonsai (I have bought some rubbish)
If I see someone doing garden work I stop and ask if they need a hand to pull trees out. I know a couple of builders and they keep an eye out for trees that need to be pulled out for extensions. Basically anywhere I can find them. I figure the more trees I work on the more experience I will get. My wife tells me I need to stop collecting but there is always room for one more (don't tell I said that).

Josh

[Josh]

Time for an update. I decided to hold of on repotting and just start getting some movement into the branches. They are quite brittle and I did get a few cracking noises although a month or so on and all is still green and budding like crazy. I need to reduce the top more and now I have budding I can begin to do this.

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My aim is something like this

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I will continue to feed and get buds then reduce the top branches. I will repot in spring and take a reasonable amount of root off

Josh

[Jason]

Good start Josh! Glad to see it back budding as it is, I worked on mine yesterday too... and there isn't much left of it! So am hoping for lots of buds too lol