Dont miss the autumn colour at the NBPCA

[Jamie]

Your kidding right

nah mate i wasnt.... i have never heard of them until know


thanks leigh have these "knees" ever been recreated in bonsai????????????? if it is even possible in pot culture?


jamie

[Leonarda]

ok ... your photo's have convinced me to come and visit tomorrow.
After 8 past weekends of bonsai events and nothing booked for this weekend, I was getting the "dt's" and have persuaded hubby to drive me to Canberra. Although I did warn him that we might now be looking at stick forests. (he aint a bonsai buff)

[Leigh Taafe]

Way to go Leonarda!!!

Some are sticks, the trident group, the japanese maple group, the english elm, trident maple - all done!
Still have awesome colour in the Japanese maple, the hawthorn, the zelkova group, the seiju, the catlin elm, the beech group, and 3 ash.

I will be in Melbourne, Grant will be in Perth, but there will be some enthusiastic volunteers to chat with!

[Leonarda]

oh wow. I had a fantastic time yesterday at the collection ( oops - not cos Leigh and Grant were not there...)

it was a little rainy, which kept everyone away, so Ken, Greg and Ruth spent 3 HOURS giving me the history of every tree and group, the authors, the benches, even history about the cottage and its possums. It was wonderful - THEY were wonderful.... just fantastic !

cant recommend it enough, now just have to plan a SUNNY day to go back.
ps. hubby thinks we are all a bit crazy.... esp about the tornique on the bleeding pine...

[NBPCA]

Colouring up nicely!

Catlin Elm11 - LT - 2010-6-1 800x600.jpg

[Grant Bowie]

Your kidding right

nah mate i wasnt.... i have never heard of them until know


thanks leigh have these "knees" ever been recreated in bonsai????????????? if it is even possible in pot culture?


jamie

Hi jamie,

The correct name for the knees is pneumataphores. I believe they alledgedly grow to help the trees breathe that are often submerged under water for significants periods of the year. The knees can be up to 3 mtr high! I'd like to see that. Some literature says they are modified aerial roots, another says upwards growing roots.

One person I spoke to recently reckons he did grow some knees while keeping his tree growing in water. Every other source I have ever read says they don't grow in pots.

I have seen photos of a tree collected with knees in a bonsai pot.

Some literature says in nature the top of the knees is higher than the average/mean inundation level so I can't see how knees would grow in a pot unless it was submerged, and obviously these trees at the side of the lake in Canberra have never been submerged.

I call the ones here the Bungl-Bungles as they look like the nth west australian geological feature.
Grant

[Bretts]

You may remember I asked about these on a visit to the collection Grant and whether they would come up in your Forest. I think you mentioned that your forest was a different species that didn't get these. Is that also correct ?

[Grant Bowie]

You may remember I asked about these on a visit to the collection Grant and whether they would come up in your Forest. I think you mentioned that your forest was a different species that didn't get these. Is that also correct ?

Hi Brett,

Yes that is correct as far as I know.

Although what was called Taxodium mucronatum (Montezuma Cypress) has now been renamed as a variety of Taxodium distichm and is now called Taxodium distichum var mexicanum(Montezuma Cypress).

It is the southerly extreme of the range of Taxodium distichum and grows down into Mexico. To me it should have been left, name wise, where it was as it handles very differently to the straight Swamp Cypress, especially when digging from the ground.

It does like water but as far as I know it does not get knees.

Grant

[Jamie]

thanks for the info grant! very interesting indeed

i am actually growing on a swamp cypress at the moment, it is in a nursery can that sits in a bucket that i keep topped up with water and has lots of DL in the water which gives it a bit of a kick along aswell as my usual fert regime, the tree has put on about 3 quarters of an inch since i got it as a pencil thick starter, i have grown it like this since getting it, more as an experiment than anything but the water level is alway basically at soil level, so possibly i might get these "knees" dont know, it will be interesting so see anyways, the power feeding/growth of this swampy has absolutly amazed me, it wont be a great deal longer before i start developing branching for a shohin formal upright, i dont know how it will turn out with the way swampy leaves are but its worth a try anyways

very interesting mate i will report any "knees" if they appear

jamie