AusBonsai

Bought this about a week ago and air layered it. What do you think? Does anyone know how well air layers take on banksias? Its about 3m tall and about 120mm trunk.

Update of my $75 tree. Repotted and chopped a bit of the top. It is in nsw and wont fit in my car so i am waiting for the air layer to work then will chop it and bring it home.
I will probably remove the biggest low branch and start from scratch. Or atleast reduce it. Let me know what ya think..ideas for the future??

Peas.

the layer should take easily, and when you tke that off, cut the rest back hard to get lots of backbudding. Let them all grow mad to decide what to do with it then

Ken

Heres an update of this banksia. Not a whole lot of new growth, most growth on the big low branch. Going to wire branches down and hopefully get a new leader and chop it to the new leader. What is a good way to cut through big trees? Ive got a big bougy that i want to cut a lot out of. Maybe circular saw the mass and dremel whats left?
Let me know what you think, any advice appreciated. Cheers.

Please just let it grow for a while and get strength in the new leader first. Make the the cuts mid to late spring.

Tony

Yeah I would leave it go for a while. And there is no way I would use a circular saw on a tree - too much danger of it biting in and removing a digit ot three. Chainsaw is a much better alternative if you are confident with them. For heavy carving you may need something bigger than s dremel. I bought some 1/4" shank structured carbide cutters from the US that I use in a air die grinder I have. They are awesome and don't clog up like normal metal cutting carbide burrs

the other Tony

I agree with Tony B, just let it grow, I have 2 Banksia's which i cut back hard mid Autumn, i'm now letting them grow for the next 6 to 8 months before i even look at them again apart from a repot for one of them in early spring. its amazing how they bud back quickly.

Danny

forgot to add, definately do not use a Circular saw on round timber (tree Trunk) as they are designed to cut flat pre-sawn timber.....use a bow saw instead or hacksaw with coarse teeth...
Danny

I will leave it alone for a year or so to get some growth and strength to the tree. Ill forget the circular saw idea. I have been using a recipro saw but its not very good, hard time getting through wet timber. I have been using PVA+ woodworking glue to seal cuts, mainly because its cheap and easy to find. Does anyone have bad experience with PVA glue or is it all good to use. Cheers.

Banksia tend to put out lots of growths from one point so you will need to thin those to 2 while its growing and also select a leader then wire it while the stems are pliable. Banksia love to be fed so do plenty of that.
Craigw

Thanks to everyone for your replies and advice. I was recently working on this tree. It has had a fair bit of growth, the top grew to about 6ft tall. I removed the biggest leader and left a smaller one as well as removing a few other branches. I started breaking up the dead wood at the top of the tree and it broke out really easily. I kept going a bit to far. Is the inside of a Banksia usually this brittle?
Let me know what you think, Cheers.

Ouch........... I would really just let this grow mad for a while. It could turn out to be an interesting tree but really needs to be let loose for some time.

It would be OK to trim extra long branches but but keep the motor running

Got potential but needs to grow. Then you may see more options with additional branch locations. Want to try one of the coastal banksias... Just don't have the room for one at the moment.. Balconies full. Agh apartment living!