Mel repot
Posted: January 10th, 2018, 7:45 pm
I think this is probably Melaleuca linariifolia. I dug the self sown seedling out of a neighbour's dam a few years ago and it has grown and developed really well since then.
I've gradually been developing what is probably a broom style tree but this year I decided it needed a reduction in size and density. It also needed repotting. Even though it was repotted last decmber, shoots started wilting earlier in spring showing that it was not getting enough water into the root ball with normal watering, a sign that the root ball is getting too compact. since then I've had it sitting in a tray of water to stop the new shoots drying off.
Normally I would just repot the tree even covered in new shoots (see previous picture) but because it needed a good cut back I decided to try pruning first then repotting just as the new shoots started to grow. Pruning was around Christmas, root prune and repot last week. Already there are new buds sprouting on most of the bare branches. Green shoots already present are shoots and buds that were left when it was cut back.
I've gradually been developing what is probably a broom style tree but this year I decided it needed a reduction in size and density. It also needed repotting. Even though it was repotted last decmber, shoots started wilting earlier in spring showing that it was not getting enough water into the root ball with normal watering, a sign that the root ball is getting too compact. since then I've had it sitting in a tray of water to stop the new shoots drying off.
Normally I would just repot the tree even covered in new shoots (see previous picture) but because it needed a good cut back I decided to try pruning first then repotting just as the new shoots started to grow. Pruning was around Christmas, root prune and repot last week. Already there are new buds sprouting on most of the bare branches. Green shoots already present are shoots and buds that were left when it was cut back.