AusBonsai

Had a mate here so thought I should make the most & get him to hold the sheet so i could get a clear pic of this tree without the rest of the clutter of the garden getting in the way. One of 2 fastigiate variety apples that I dug from my parents garden 2yrs ago, this one is a Granny Smith variety sold under the Tradename of Maypole. Planted as 2yr old grafted plants in 1997, cut down & dug in winter of 2008 and moved to my front garden.

I am interested in hearing others opinions on possible driections with this tree, I only collected it & the other as they were in the way of work being done. Is it worth working as a bonsai or just kept as a small garden plant? The growth is very coarse and wood is very brittle so I cant do alot of bending with this one. Matt

Forgot to mention dimensions, trunk is 25cm high at chop and 10cm in dia and overall stands 110cm tall.

Matt, has the graft healed well over? Anychance of making a graft lower down the trunk? Apples make great bonsai, theres an American master who uses cow-chomped Apple trees, and they look very impressive. They bark up really nicely too. I reckon just keep cutting right back down every year, until the tree reaches a bushy state and then start selecting the branches and twigs. Did you see the Apple tree growing in my backyard? Im going to start working on it this year.

Eddie,

I did see the apple in your yard, that will be one awesome bonsai when you get to it... and to help you along that path you really should let me have the Callistemon that has escaped its box. I can see it in my garden amongst the rest of my BIG stuff, I even have a pot for it.
The arrow marks the graft line, this & the other are living proof that bad grafts can grow out & dont necesarrily have to get worse. I have tried grafting this to the rootstock suckers without success, most likely my lack of technique but am going to have another go this year. I could have a go at grafting onto the lower trunk but would have to pick my shoot well otherwise it would look all out of place. These apples dont really grow or thicken up like regular apple trees do, being a slow growing fastigiate variety and dwarfing rootstock. In the 11yrs they were in the garden they had only reached 2.4m from a start height of 1.5m and while they had considerable branching it was all straight up making it only 60cm wide.

Matt

MattA wrote:Eddie,

I did see the apple in your yard, that will be one awesome bonsai when you get to it... and to help you along that path you really should let me have the Callistemon that has escaped its box. I can see it in my garden amongst the rest of my BIG stuff, I even have a pot for it.

R0012858graft.jpg

The arrow marks the graft line, this & the other are living proof that bad grafts can grow out & dont necesarrily have to get worse. I have tried grafting this to the rootstock suckers without success, most likely my lack of technique but am going to have another go this year. I could have a go at grafting onto the lower trunk but would have to pick my shoot well otherwise it would look all out of place. These apples dont really grow or thicken up like regular apple trees do, being a slow growing fastigiate variety and dwarfing rootstock. In the 11yrs they were in the garden they had only reached 2.4m from a start height of 1.5m and while they had considerable branching it was all straight up making it only 60cm wide.

Matt

Matt, lol Youre still on about that white flowering callistemon. Ive kept it because its potentially the best native bonsai I have. Ive aleady got plans on it this spring. Its a 10 year project for me with complete restyling starting this year. Oh by the way, Ive started working on your beautiful cedar material, and thats a ten year project for me as well. So I got my work cut out.
With the apple, maybe you can try making it into a broomstyle bonsai. Besides the straight trunk stuits it.

Edward Scissorhand wrote:
Matt, lol Youre still on about that white flowering callistemon. Ive kept it because its potentially the best native bonsai I have. Ive aleady got plans on it this spring. Its a 10 year project for me with complete restyling starting this year. Oh by the way, Ive started working on your beautiful cedar material, and thats a ten year project for me as well. So I got my work cut out.
With the apple, maybe you can try making it into a broomstyle bonsai. Besides the straight trunk stuits it.

You didnt tell me it was a white one... I should have knocked you out and stolen it Good to hear your starting on it finally, get your shovel out, it escaped the box long ago.

When you get your initial work done on the cedar I would love to see it. Mine didnt enjoy the long wet we had and started going backwards fast, have planted it out in the front garden, raised bed & no extra watering, a few of the trunks look to be goners but will leave it be for a year then re-assess it then.

I think the apple can just stay where it is in the garden for another year or 10 till I can see something in it, maybe when the main trunk thickens some. The other one is more workable, will get pics up when I can find someone to hide the background with a sheet again.

Matt

Matt, I havent seen the callistemon flower because I keep cutting it back. But I remember reading the tag on the tree. I will try and take photos later in spring of the cedar. I will be repotting it in a weeks time.