Lilly Pilly After care

[Bretts]

Hey Guys I repotted my Lilly pilly recently and can't find much info on after care.
Do you sit in in a water tray?

Mine got a pretty hefty root prune. It is in a great free draining mix. I have been watering every day at least even though it has not been drying out. I have been tilting the pot (different way each day) to encourage drainage though.
Has been at least a couple of weeks and no new growth yet. Lost a couple of leaves. Has a flower bud that is not opening. But still looks fine. Just thought I should get the care right as it obviously lost it's sense of humour

I am thinking of using more seasol and misting the foliage more often and let the soil dry out a bit more?
Any ideas.

[hugh grant]

Hey
when I repot my lily pilys or after digging from the garden I keep them in the full shade untill they start shooting then slowely move them Into the sun. Seasol I reckon would be good for it ( it works for me) every week or two and don't water it so much that it is soaking just enough to keep lightly moist they don't like to be waterlogged as like most trees don't I think that tilting it to drain is a good idea to prevent wtaerlogging and it sittingg around the roots too long.
Keep it in the shade ireckon for now untill your confident that it is going good.
And I must stress don't fertilize heavily for a little while I find with LP you need to wait till they have recovered which shouldn't be too much longer, and never on LP's do you give them dynamic lifter as LP s seem to hate it and can end up killing them, a tiny pinch of the stuff is fine in most cases but never reallly fertilize them with it ( just note for future references)
but that's my knowledge of them that I have found
How bout a pic could see how it's looking

Hugh

[anttal63]

When i repot aussies and i did 3 lilly 's this summer. i water morning and night. the more oxygen to the roots the better. Lillys do not like dry in any shape of form. i also put them against a south facing wall where they get late afternoon sun to warm them for the night. as soon as there is a sign of growth straight out into full sun water plenty and feed.

[Bretts]

Thanks for the conflicting advice guys

I like the idea of warming the tree up. I had it at the Orange Bonsai Club collection most of summer and this was in the shade house. It may have gone a little dormant and needs warming up to get going. Especially since it is starting to cool down now.
Finding a place that is protected and warm will be the tricky part.

I will hold of on the pic for a bit Hugh as I was hoping to get it into the Native comp but it might be too slow for this year. It was in last year and it would be nice to keep entering it until I win though
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[anttal63]

It has been predicted that you guys north are in for a warmer autumn than usual so no sweat. This is my post trauma unit here. As you can see, brick walls on either side and glass behind. Sun bounces all over the place from noon onwards but none direct until about 5 - 6 pm. In the past i have repotted lilly's all year round, even in winter. Ultimately there is no better than Dec. IMO.

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[Bretts]

Nice. It's a cold day here and I can't find a warm spot so I was thinking about getting the heat matt under it.

[craigw60]

Hi Brett,
Obviously I am not familiar with your climate but it did occur to me that watering every day may be a little extreme. It is very easy to over water trees that have just been root pruned. I would be inclined to check moisture levels carefully before pouring on the water.
Craig

[anttal63]

This time of year is different to December no doubt, but i cant even begin to count how many aussie natives ive treated in this way Craig. I even pour the water on in winter too.
The mat could be a good idea, i've never used one.

[craigw60]

You have all these radical techniques Ant make me laugh. I would never dream of pouring water on a newly root pruned native but will give it a bash next year and see what happens.
Craig

[anttal63]

You have all these radical techniques Ant make me laugh. I would never dream of pouring water on a newly root pruned native but will give it a bash next year and see what happens.
Craig

This one's called "flooding"

[Bretts]

This is just the issue I was considering. There has been discussion on having natives sit in a water tray after repotting. I was unsure if Lilly pilly was in this group.
I don't tend to sit anything in water but I think that if some find this beneficial after transplanting/repotting then watering at least everyday some times more whether it is dry or not could be of benefit. Then instead of sitting them in water and as to the discussion that they like a free draining mix to get the air circulating it makes sense to tilt the pot to drain the mix as well as a free draining mix.

I am starting to use the pot tilt method much more these days especially after watching my dwarf Scott's pine sulk and die after refusing to take up water even though it was in a great akadama mix.
I have since read an article in Bonsai today where they had a JBP in trouble with very few roots after repotting.
The pot was tilted on it's side and watered several times a day even though it wasn't drying out as it was most important to get the air circulation going. The direction of the tilt was changed several times a day as well.
I feel if I had done something like this for my Dwarf Scott's pine it would have pulled through. It sulked for a long time only being watered about once a week in the shade house before I finally killed it by putting it in more sun.

[anttal63]

Possibly right Bretts, you may have saved it but i also think you went to early on that scotts if i remember right. For me there is no doubt that natives need more oxygen than most exotics. Providing the mix is right You can apply this technique no prob. I havent had to tilt but i see no wrong in that and probably a good idea. Although when a pot or box is off the ground, gravity is doing its thing any way.

[craigw60]

Ok Ant we will try a bit of flooding on the natives next summer and see what happens.

[Pup]

Brett I have a post here on what I did with a Lilly pilly . Not sure what it was either Syzygium or Achmena. I got it given to me at the beginnig of October. Cut the root in half planted it. after a very short time it started to shoot all over it has now been cut back and thinned 5 times.
I treated it as I would any plant I re pot. Soak for about an hour in our favorite hormone. Put it in shade for a week or so then move to a sunny spot.

You are a wizz at finding the links . Just my 2 cents Cheers Pup

[anttal63]

Ok Ant we will try a bit of flooding on the natives next summer and see what happens.

I asure you, very fast recovery!