AusBonsai

Gday folks!

Here's my first entry: a weedy specimen of Melaleuca bracteata that I have largely neglected for the past 3 years or so. It was purchased in a 100mm pot from Kuranga Native Nursery for about $5.00 (it was in the sale section). I may have pruned it once when I placed it into a large terracotta pot, but other than that, the only styling it has received has been courtesy of the ravenous hordes of caterpillars that descend on our yard every Spring.

It currently stands at 622mm, give or take a mil.

The photos are taken at 90° counter-clockwise rotations.
Thanks, and good luck to all entrants!

Fly.

Nice looking start with a bit of tweaking here and there should be very nice.

Good luck Pup



Edit typo get a lot of them don't know how to stop them

Gday folks!

So, I got to looking at this stock, and the first thing that struck me was that I needed to take steps to reduce the rootball. As it has been in the same enormous pot for the past 2-3 years, I figured it was better to remove the roots in a couple of stages, one trim now and another closer to the close of the Contest. I think maybe I got a little carried away with my initial rootprune, as I probably removed 70% of the roots... Never mind - I also removed a couple of the lower branches, and am looking at trimming back the tips to force back-budding.
I have repotted into a pot which is still much too large for the height of the trunk, but will be on the lookout for an appropriate pot over the next year or so.
More updates soon...

Thanks.

Fly.