AusBonsai

These turned up at the local Magnet Mart for the first time ever - it's a Western Plains Acacia, long-lived, tough, and has promise. This example is an old one, battling to stay alive.
I bought them at about 60cms tall, and cut them back in autumn, so I didn't lose the close-in leaves that you need to shoot from next spring - if you leave them over winter, the oldest (closest) leaves drop off, and things can get leggy.
Barking up nicely already:
I originally bought two, but the mix was so nasty it became hydrophobic, water just ran down the sides, and the the leaves wilted, turned brown and extremely discouraging very quickly. They eventually re-shot all the way back to three and four year old wood - I wouldn't recommend this as a technique to get back-budding on Acacias, but it was interesting.
Should be a good tree in five or twenty years' time...

Gavin

Hello Gavin,

How are your Weeping Myalls now, how did they fare the summer?

Any recent photos?

Kevin

They're fine, but not growing particularly fast. Photos, as I said, in five or ten years.

Gavin

Hi Gavin, how are your acacias holding up? I grabbed a tubestock from the SA native plant show yesterday which I'm hoping to make something small out of.

They're interesting... They've kept foliage close in with some fairly ruthless spring pruning, I'll be reducing root balls shortly on the way to a bonsai pot. They don't seem to like hard root pruning or tight potting - they seem to need root room. I'll post photos when I get around to attacking them in the next week or two. Not sure how to sort out branches, and they certainly won't be pendulous the way I've been growing them.

Gavin

Pfff…… only losers grow Acacia.
Winners grow Phebalium.

I tried many different Acacia over the last 10 years, but I just never had any long term success with continual root pruning.
Perhaps it was just not having the right species, but they just eventually would die after a few root prunes. It may have been a combination of letting them go too long without a watering, or taking off too much root, not sure. They just didn't seem hardy enough for me to continue with them.

You're just a wimp Rory. Constant failure just eggs me on to further fits of excess...

A. aneura (Mulga) has survived 8 repottings, but I lost one last year through being too hard on it. Can make great bonsai, with care. If you can, pick the seedlings with a fine white line down the leaf, and bark getting thick early. A. cognata River Cascade is looking a bit unhappy after four repottings, you could be right there. Prostrate A. howitii has survived up to 40 years for some growers, but always seems to be in a largish pot. Have tried A. vestita with no great joy. Many Acacias are short-lived, but there are some that are durable (aneura, pendula) and worth working on. Not sure how they'll go on the humid coast.

There are a number of other genuses like Phebalium that sound promising, but I'm trying to focus on those I have, as it takes so long to learn what they like, what they'll tolerate, and what looks best. Some like Calothamnus, Darwinnia, Bursaria, something beginning with S.....

Getting old.

Gavin

So, here are some progress photos of the A. pendula. I ended up with four - one looks like a snail, one is soooo boring, but the other two have potential. Ish. They bark up and thicken well, take root-pruning (never more than half at a time, for me) and cope well with grow-and-clip, back to two leaves each spring. They will never look like weeping Myall... (But I like what they make.)
The sacrifice branch at the back grew so well the original trunk died back... Ah well. Turn it round, move on.
Strong thick fibrous root growth, needs a pot a bit larger than usual. Boring. A maybe. Another five years. Nice base. So, slow to do much, needs larger than I'm growing to keep the leaves in proportion, great bark and style, copes well with what we do, but be gentle with the roots. A bit.

Gavin

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