AusBonsai

Hi there,

I have a dwarf red cherry lilly pilly that I am going to bonsai... Has anyone got any experience and advice regarding lilly pillys? Anything will be much appreciated!

All I can remember is that they don't really like heat over 30°C. I've gone blank on the rest. Oh, and apparently don't stress if they die (read: appear dead) cause they have a habit of shooting back?

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread since I unexpectedly ended up with a lilly pilly a few weeks back.
(It was a welcome surprise, too, cause I've been dying to replicate some lilly pillys I saw at Wilson's Prom.) I could use some advice.

Lillipillis are easy. They shoot back on old wood, thicken gradually so get something substantial if you can. They love water and happily thrive in a water tray 24/7. At the moment I've taken all my trees out of their water trays because it has been teeming for a week in Sydney but this is exceptional and as soon as the rain stops the trees will be back in their trays [lillipilli, meleleuca, causaurina, ficus]

When I do the first style I tend to go for the skeleton, remove all branches that I don't want and set the tree up for its future. The first year and into the second year they can be a bit scatty but within two seasons they are starting to shape up and look decent.

I repot in warmer weather and I do a hard root prune because they then sit in a water tray. Native osmocote in the soil and half strength Charlie Carp or another mild fertiliser.

Wired branches need to be watched as they seem to do nothing for awhile and the next time you look the wire has cut in. Branches are flexible to an extent but can break so be careful when shaping.

Once they are established they are a pain because they constantly want pruning and tidying ... they grow like the clappers and you need to balance the growth for style while letting the flower buds develop.

Psyllids - many lillipillys are prone to psyllid attacks. This looks like a severe dimpling of the leaves. Spray regularly with Confidor and remove damaged leaves because they won't revert. I spray my tree about every 2 months. I understand if you live near Council or wild lillipillis that are afflicted with psyllids you are fighting a constant battle of reinfection. But spraying one or two bonsai is not the same as keeping up spraying on a hedge.

Lillipillys are a fun native and when flowering and fruiting they are super.

Many varieties are very susceptible to Psyllids. (Trioza eugeniae) (Specific to Lilly Pilly) . Having said that, newer varieties are being engineered to resist this pest. This can be evidenced through galls on the leaves. Rogor is your best option if this occurs but even then they are hard to get rid of. Cutting off the affected foliage will help. That's all I know about Lilly Pilly. Oh, and they also make quite a nice informal hedge!!

John

Wow guys... thank you for all that info. It constantly blows me away the wealth of knowledge available through this forum and the readiness to share this informatioln is out of sight. Hopefully one day I can contribute to the answers rather than just asking all the questions lol..

Cheers
Matt

Sorry one last question.... how do i go about styling a young tree into a twisting style?

Regards
Matt

What is a twisting style??? Haven't heard of that one before but it sounds like something that would be more suitable to juniper growth habits than lillypillys.

Hi Mat, I had a twisted trunk lilly pilly for many years, you need to grow one from seed which is too easy. Then wire the twists into the trunk when the wood is very young and pliable. Lilly pilly wood becomes very hard quite young so you need to be onto it. Once the wood has set then let the tree boom to thicken the trunk.
Craig

G`day Matt I have had some success with lilly pilly. The tree in the pic was grown in a very large container for a lot of years, when I got it I removed everything back to a bare trunk selecting the line I wanted . It had no problem with the heavy branch and root pruning , and it shot back well. I have even found the large scars have almost disappeared. When I look at the tree now I wish I had taken more time in growing the branches , It was very apical dominant, so I should have kept the top cut well back letting the bottom branches fatten more. Through the years I have only had one problem with it and that was a wasp that left galls on the branches.That was corrected with pruning and spraying. CHEERS ROD.....

Something I didn't mention Matt, if you are planning to do some radical wiring on lilly pillys they can be quiet brittle, so are best done young.

Cheers
Rod