Advice on collecting Little John

[MattA]

My neighbour 2 doors up has offered me a Callistemon 'Little John' growing in the front garden that was to be removed, it has been butchered and is ok for me to take my time removing (in return for replacing it with a large pink Frangipani I am removing from my front garden).

I am hoping someone here can help with advice on removing, should I dig it now or leave till spring?
It will be replanted in a prepared raised garden bed to recover for a year or 2.

The tree stands approx 1mtr tall & base of the trunk is approx 15-20cm, I havent done any exploratory diggin to see what the roots do yet and wont be making any decisions as to eventual design until I have seen them. I am interested in hearing what others might do with it...

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Matt

[Handy Mick]

Hey Mat, if it were mine, I would prune down to where it is still green and where it fits in with design, I would also at the same time push a spade down in sections around the root ball.
Wait for new growth, then lift with as much root ball as possible.

Just my Mick.

[Craig]

Hi matt i'm sure you've seen these threads , they should be able to answer you questions, I would dig it now

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=223&start=0 . Bud burst .

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=2641&start=15#p34176 ..

Cheers Matt

[MattA]

Hey Craig,

I had seen & read those posts, Pup's in particular is a great resource for Callistemon in general, however the mention of collecting being ok is for december. Brett dug one at the end of March, I am wondering if its not a little too late now or just go for it, its going back in the ground which I have found in general to be less stressful with most collected trees.

Mick,

How bout some ideas on a design .... I am still scratching my head & i have walked around the tree countless times looking from every which way. Digging down to cut thru any roots prior to collecting may be counter productive on this ground (minimal topsoil layer over clay) or maybe not... the ground wont dry out again till summer...

Matt

[Handy Mick]

Sorry Matt, computers are not my forte, dead set your lucky to get a reply, I'm that bad. Vert, a no go, sorry mate.
I think we need someone to give us a soldiers 5 on how to do virtuals. With easy programs.

Mick

[Craig]

Matt, you'd be wanting to get a look at the roots before you go too far into designs yet don't you think ?
Re; transplanting, whats the temps like?, i'd have a look at the buds and if it looks like putting out new growth, then i'd dig it up Wounder what the Mel King would do with this great specimen?/
Cheers Buddy

[MattA]

Hey Mick,
I am not far ahead of you... This is what i can do with paint brush (and not much more).. The red line is one possible future (from lj8) turned back towards the angle of lj7. I would cut off the branch marked in green, probably leaving a section for jin, shorten and regrow the 2 marked with blue. The bottom branch could be removed, jinned, shortened to about the arrow or kept longer & styled as a second recumbent trunk.

I dont like making any real major plans on a tree until i see its roots. They may suit that line or they may suggest a whole range of others from cascade to who knows where... roots trunk branches. Its always interesting to muse on possibilities as well, we all see a tree different to anyone else and each is just as valid.

For myself a tree needs to tell a convincing story, whether that be the simplest natural form of a species to the most contrived story telling of some chinese penjing and japanese bonsai... 'Dragons Coiling' etc etc While this tree is not radically twisted or gnarled, it has some beautiful sinous curves, along with the stunning lichen crusts.

Matt

Craig,
I havent had a look at the roots yet.. sometime in the next few days. (see above) It was only hacked back 2wks ago, i will look tomorow for buds or movement... Temps been pretty constant, mid teens overnight to early mid twenties during day, last couple weeks has been fairly overcast with plenty of rain.

[Bretts]

Hi Matt
Nice one! I was looking closely at the base of yours to see if it had the paperbark base like mine because it looks very similar in it's growth. Not sure though, maybe it will show up when you start digging?
Must be well over a month since I collected mine and they are looking good but no new growth yet. Thinking that may not come until spring now although I have noticed other bottle brushes putting out fresh growth at the moment.
The larger one of mine that had more foliage and soil left on is definitely looking better out of the two. The smaller one has lost a few leaves.
I understand that bottle brush don't like being cut back real hard, it can make them do funny things like drop leaves and start looking dead but the one that did this to me did come back. That is why I tried to leave as much foliage as I thought the reduced root ball could handle. So I would not recommend cutting back any harder than it already has for now.
I will have to leave the decision of when to collect to you taking into consideration the advice you have. But I would not recommend spading the roots hoping that you get finer roots before you dig, unless you plan on leaving it where is for at least a year or two. It takes some time for this to happen and I tend to agree with the Koreshoff's. Better to just get in and do the deed instead of weakening the tree by spading the roots and then come back and dig it later.

[Ryan1979b]

I don't have any advice but that's an awesome find Good luck with it, keen to see the progress.

[MattA]

Regrowth on this little baby hasn't been good & i suspect our crappy summer may be part to blame. I just spent the last hour digging it out of the heavy wet clay, I have washed most of it off & have it soaking while I take a breather. So far I havent chopped anything back but will be having a good look at what branches I can remove to help balance up the roots.

Pics to come later, off to start butchery.

[MattA]

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It is planted in a 50cm plastic pot but only has about 20cm of soil depth which still gave plenty under the roots. Once I had cleaned up the roots they dictated bringing the bottom line up & now the 2 trunks form a V. Undecided, I left both ines & shortened back as much else I could, here's hoping it doesn't die because I left too much on

[Andrew E]

Looking good mate, what happened to replanting in the front yard? Keen to get it into a pot eh?
Andrew

[MattA]

Looking good mate, what happened to replanting in the front yard? Keen to get it into a pot eh?
Andrew

I am slowly trying to clear the front garden so it can be a garden instead of full of bonsai. Not that it would matter so far this summer but I also dont water out there & lost a few trees during the spring heat, not happy Jan

[Andrew F]

I am slowly trying to clear the front garden

Reminds me to come see you in the coming week.

[MattA]

I am slowly trying to clear the front garden

Reminds me to come see you in the coming week.

That's right, you volunteered to dig my big Tibouchiana for me