metrosideros excelsa large branch cuttings

[mugen]

Hi all i have decided to give large branch cuttings of the newzealand christmas tree a go.
I chainsawed off a couple of lower branches of the base of a mature tree near my work with lots of aerial roots, plonked them in some buckets of water with seasole and rooting hormone.
the pics are a couple of days after i cut them off and they dont seem to have suffered so far, im hoping that the aerial roots can sustain the large branches and turn into feeder roots
Has any one else had much experience with this species?
any help would be much appreciated.
i will post more pics when i get to the planting stage.

[Craig]

HI Mugen, Just before spring this year i aquired a New Zealand Christmas tree(Pohutukawa), it's around 36yrs old, always been grown in a bonsai pot, They flower in Nov-to-Jan i believe, i tried a couple of small cuttings with no hormones but didn't look after them and i don't think they took, cuttings should work however . good luck mate,,oh and if there's any foliage thats not Varigated you should remove it immediately and only keep the Varigated foliage ,,,Craig

[mugen]

Thanks Craig has your bonsai flowered yet ?
Would love to see a pic of your tree to know what to aim for when styling

[Craig]

Hi mate, no flowers this season ,however i did some serious rootpruning and defoliation at the beginning of spring. the tree doesn't have great taper but it does have really old bark.The trunk is around 75mm thick and tree is about 450mm high,,, Maybe oneday i'll be willing to reduce the height but not yet Craig

[mugen]

Thanks for posting some pics Craig much appreciated looks great!
Did you defoliate to reduce leaf size? or to make it easier to wire up? Because i was wondering if the leaves could be reduced in size, they are i nice shape but would like them a bit smaller.
Is your tree a varigated form or the green one?

[Craig]

Mugen, i defoliated to wire the tree, my tree i also Varigated, but it gets straight green leaves aswell. If left these green branches can turn the whole tree back to the non varigated form, so be aware of that. As to leaf reduction,- you shouldn't ever be concerned about reucing the size of foliage until your tree has aquired it's final "bonsai" form, but that said YES the leaves do reduce considerably when defoliated at the correct time,. Maybe Pup can correct me but he says the ultimate day for defol is 26th december ps-one thing i'd like to add is the wood of these trees goes extremely hard when the branches start to thicken, so any movement you want/need should be done at an early stage of growth,,,:D craig

[mugen]

Thanks for the great advice Craig
Good to know about removing the green growth as there is some on the cuttings i have taken.
And thanks for the advice on leaf reduction i will save my trees undue stress by waiting until the is where i want it before i defoliate.

[mugen]

Here are some shots of one of the branch cuttings i took just potted up
no signs of wilting yet so thats good. get to see a bit more of the shape in these pictures.

[EdwardH]

I have had one for a few years now and I find them tough as. I allowed a few aerial roots to grow into the soil and in no time at all they took off. i am not sure if they will support a tree if they have not been in the soil as yet however it is certainly worth a go.

[mugen]

Hi EdwardH good to know they are as tough as nails thats my kind of tree!
this branch cutting i took was near the base of the tree and had lots of leaf litter around it lots of areal roots and one root that had shot off into the ground. so hoping thats enough to sustain all the foliage
the other branch cutting i took only had areal roots so we will see if it survives.

[craigw60]

I have seen these trees growing all around the coastline in northland N.Z., they are just magnificent and make incredible shapes growing out of the cliff faces, unfortunately they are much favoured by possums (an introduced species there) and many of the old trees are now under threat from consistent grazing by these animals. The aerial roots don't seem to make wood like a fig tree but are huge clumps of fibre that very often don't reach the ground.
Craigw

[EdwardH]

Hi any progress on your aerial root cutting?