AusBonsai

So I have about 5 shrubs along my back fence that aren't very healthy and are quite ugly looking. I was going to pull them out boost the soil and plant some Japanese box.
So being that I'm a newb to bonsai and want to gain experience was thinking of maybe potting one or more up to practice techniques on.
So my first question is a id? Here are some pics of one of them

Second question is so do I even bother with these as they look like they may have some sort of disease or something as they have weird bumps on the leaves and blackness to some. Wondering if this is normal for what ever this shrub is?


Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

They look like camellia (underneath whatever else is going on with them).
If you want height to cover the fence then I would focus on getting the camellias healthy again.


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They're a Lilly pilly. Look like a Syzygium australe cultivar. They hey pimple psyllid which is an insect that causes the bumps. The black is sooty mould. Probably as a result of scale on the plant which exude sugars that the sooty mould grows on.

Lilly pillys can make good bonsai, and are good to practice techniques on, but you want to get them healthy first. You can either cut then right back, work some fertiliser in to the soil and water them well until they regain health before digging, or cut them right back, dig them up and pot into a good mix and hope for the best.

Cheers dansai, yeah think I might leave them there for awhile and try to nurse them back to health before I decide to do anything.



Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

Hi Pebble, you should really dig them up and burn them, they aren't worth attempting to save from a garden or bonsai perspective.

Cheers,
Mojo

Thanks mojo, yeah I heard that as well off another forum. Oh well looks like into a fire they will go.


Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

Theyre lily pily. You could bring Tm em.back.to health very easily to form a nice hedge you know

Yes ... But some types of Lilly pillys are more prone to pest and disease .... These look to fall into that category... Will be forever battling the pests

It's just psylid. Easy to kill.