AusBonsai

Bloody vista crashed again and I lost the last long winded post Probably prefer this shorter version more anyway

I have a couple of Pepper corn trees growing out in the ground. I started with two killed two and have two left I am not sure how that happened
Anyway the two I killed was from moving them around in my growing area early spring a couple of years ago. One was a bloody ripper. I think it was the frost burn after transplanting that gave them a slow death so I was planning on moving this one in late spring last year but did not get around to it so the plan is now late spring this year.
I have had some issues with inverse taper when growing them in the ground. Stripping ALL branches from the lowest section and letting the leader grow strong sounds a little backward but it did improve it last year. I will try sacrifice branches on the base again but it is a time consuming operation keeping the growth at the lowest point and still away from just above where the inverse was a problem.
Anyway here is one of the originals of the two I started with. As stated I plan to move in late spring and then I will decide where to chop the strong leader. I will then have to be right on top of his guy keeping suckers in check so as to combat the inverse taper. That's if it survives the transplant

Anyone else growing these?
Oh my mate Pol grows some of these so I will add any advice that he has. He laughed at me that I killed the other two he thinks they are very hard to kill

Well,I am gonna have to laugh too Bretts but only a little bit. (tee hee). Yeah hard to kill but they do sook a little with root pruning. Now.. this was advise from my friend Ron Povey who came to visit me from Adelaide. Do not take off all the secondary branches that grow upwards of the main branchs i asked why and he replied..I dont know, they just do better. They do and i dont know why either. Any way, they respond to tip pruning but the frustrating thing for me is that they respond like English Elms in a pot culture THEY SLOW GROWTH SIGNIFICANTLY. I am still learning about them to but i have seen one that was stunning at the Bendigo show and that gives me hope.


p.s this is a collected one that i have hope for

That's a ripper Bodi Wanna swap

It's OK to laugh a little it didn't hurt too much. I think the trees suffered more than me The roots where very coarse and I had no idea how well they took root disturbance I just wanted them in a different spot re-aranging the growing area . I was surprised to find they took the transplant well at first with the foliage hardly even wilting. Can't remember how long after this days or weeks but when the frost came in it burnt the still healthy leaves. They struggled after this and although I was hoping for them to pull through with some die back they eventually gave up.
One was a bloody ripper.

So I guess you would repot them in late spring or at least with frost protection and they would be fine?
I would love to see more pictures of these. Although not great leaves they have many qualities that you would think great assets in bonsai!

I have found thy repot better when its warm early summer through to late, thats down here its milder. i think they are prone to dormant cut roots dying if they sit wet. after repot some new shoots wilt -i keep cutting them till its settles just to allow some relief. i never cut back a branch hard-leave some leaves even though in the ground i've seen them reshoot from stump. i have lost branches for no apparent reason, but the advice from Ron Povey is something to think about. now i dont concentrate on branch structure so much as a nice weeping top of gnarly stump. My best one so far is a tanuki cos i wanted a thick twisty representation of peppercorn but couldnt wait.

I have a real soft spot for peppercorns i think they should be given citizenship, they love it here,they have amazing style, they are fire retardant, and a lot of farms and country towns in dry areas would be worse off without them
i think Donnie D is building up a bit of knowledge on them too but i dont think he's on here anywhere?
Great future tree Bhodi.

im growing one but its quite small and in a pot. I pruned it back hard near the end of summer and it came back strong, back budding everywhere. I will be looking at it again in spring to see what i can do with styling.

How are your peppercorns progressing, gents? Any further observations on growth and treatment? I'm just about to start on one. Cheers Shane

There is a women at our club which has crazy pepercorns and the younger ones she its trying fatten up she put cable ties on the lower part over the trunk. Over time the tree breaks the cable tie and she repeats the process. You get reverse taper but they look like real pepercorns in nature..which most have reverse taper but loads of bumps.

How are your peppercorns? Have you done any work to it since the last season?
Since reading this post last year, I got hold of a small peppercorn and planted it in the ground around July 2013.
It did nothing until the weather got warmer and it went from a 2cm base to over 10cm in one season. A new shoot appeared from the main trunk and in one season, extended to nearly 3meters high.

I cut it off last weekend leaving a large scar.

I am assuming there will be some large roots below and wondering if I should shorten them with a shovel and let it grow another few seasons to speed up the healing process.

Any thoughts?

bodhidharma wrote:Well,I am gonna have to laugh too Bretts but only a little bit. (tee hee). Yeah hard to kill but they do sook a little with root pruning. Now.. this was advise from my friend Ron Povey who came to visit me from Adelaide. Do not take off all the secondary branches that grow upwards of the main branchs i asked why and he replied..I dont know, they just do better. They do and i dont know why either. Any way, they respond to tip pruning but the frustrating thing for me is that they respond like English Elms in a pot culture THEY SLOW GROWTH SIGNIFICANTLY. I am still learning about them to but i have seen one that was stunning at the Bendigo show and that gives me hope.


p.s this is a collected one that i have hope for

Wow Bodhi. I have never read this post before. I have a few sticks of these, but that is amzing. That is some great stock you have there. Any updated pics?

There is a good one at the NBPCA in Canberra from South Australia and is thought to be around 55 yrs plus.

Grant