AusBonsai

Hey folks,

The trouble and strife has claimed the bottom half of our yard as edible garden space (no complaints here, I hate the big supermarkets) and today she decided the albizia julibrissin that was growing down the back was taking valuable space and had to go. I had been thinking of digging this one for a while but had never got around to it so I thought what the hell, good excuse to get into it.

I chopped back the top growth to a couple of stumps and started digging, and got a hell of a shock! This thing kept going, and thickening, and going, and thickening. I was terrified of what I would have to deal with when I hit the tap root but kept at it.

Luckily there was none, there was some very thick radial roots, but nothing underneath. I also found some rot, and a few fat curl grubs who were getting a nice feed. Once out of the ground I pretty well flat cut it, then gave it a big blast with the hose to get rid of the clay around the base and the rotten wood and dirt out of the holes in the trunk, and a particularly fat grub. I then prepared a mix of regular potting mix, pre prepared bondai mix and diatomite and planted it into a big plastic tub and here it is
Side, or maybe front... better taper but less interesting detail in the trunk Love to hear any thoughts or advice from anybody who has grown these as bonsai, apparently they are better suited to large size bonsai due to the leaf structure and difficulty in achieving leaf reduction... I hope it's not too small hahaha

Kerrin

They do make great bonsai,but where do you live? If you are suffering this cold weather at the moment,it may not survive.If you live from Coff's or higher,no problems, but will take a while to shoot back.In Sydney a little too cool.Let grow feral for 2yrs ,before you trim. this allows the new growth to help develop branches, and to stimulate some good root structure.They do not like wet feet,and your mix should be very course to allow for good drainage, and aeration.This tree, because it has a compound leaf,needs to be reasonably tall.

You've hit GOLD. That trunk is very nice.

If it's too cold put it in a protected spot and if you can manage it, in a polytunel to keep the frost off.

The trunk detail kind if looks like ghost face from scream!

Hope it survives....

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I think it will survive. I dug up a similar sized one 2 years ago with very few roots and it grew well although weakly at first.
I would let the branches grow freely for the first year without touching them.