AusBonsai

I've done a bad thing...

It's all Good Ev,
Looks like you may have tackled one of the hardest to collect, Gum tree, and it looks like a nice one at that.
I was going to suggest that you should collect a couple at the moment to give you an idea of what you will be up against come spring, about the best time for collecting.

I would love to be in your shoes with this gum. Usually I might give something like this about 50/50 chance. We often say the aftercare will make the difference so being a beginner don't be too deflated if it doesn't survive.
Once it is potted up in a fairly open mix make sure it doesn't dry out. Then slowly over time ensure it doesn't stay too wet. The key to understanding this is diligent care. You will need to check the soil often. Sometimes you will need to stick your finger into the soil to see how wet it is under the surface. Imagine something like 30% water and 70% air is a healthy mix for the roots. When you do water imagine that you are using the water to flush out any old stale air. So water excessively. Then watch diligently again remembering how long it took to dry out last time.

There are other things that can be considered in after care. Misting the leaves like a cutting is often helpful or you could go as far as covering the collected material with plastic to keep the humidity up. Some times the warmth of the sun or a heat mat is very helpful but also care must be taken that it is not exposed to the elements too much.

In time when collecting you will be able to identify a tree from a hundred paces. Have fun

Oh and one thing I forgot to mention with Gums is they may take a long time to show signs of new life. You may think they are on the way to dying and then start to shoot new life so make sure you don't give up too early with this one.

Noted and thanks Mr Bretts. Any advice is alwasy welcome!

My plan to look without touching clearly failed.. i guess i shall learn by doing... and make another trip in early spring.

Hi Evenings,
Good to see you took a little starter .Fly the flag for the Shoalhaven. Best of luck with the Gum
Regards John.

Thanks John and thanks for the advice!
Greedily (and spurred on my by dads optimism), i ended up with 8 plants... Now comes the hard part of keeping them alive and learning.

Question#127 for 10 points: What is the ideal location to store these plants while they're recovering? I currently have them in a quite shady area, being watered often, where they will only get a few hours of sun... please let me know if i'm killing them

Bretts wrote:..being a beginner don't be too deflated if it doesn't survive.

/Deflated. It looks like only 2 of 8 survived.

If they are all natives or obscure species then I would say you have done well, at least in the terms of a beginner that has no idea what how or when to collect. Put some pics up.
I read your thread from the start, before I realised I had already replied. I don't see a problem with experimenting with a few trees, it is all part of the learning process.
I found my first hunt for trees to collect quite funny in hind sight. I walked for miles up a hill around cliffs and found noting. Then when I returned to where I started I found what I thought was a jackpot of root over rock Gums. I eventually tried collecting one. My mates survived and mine didn't. The funny thing was they sat for a long time not alive not dead. I moved mine into more sun and it died, shortly after my mates one started to re sprout. I haven't collected from there again, YET.
We have ALOT to learn about collecting our natives. It is best for the beginner to stick to the easy collectible exotics that there is ample documentation on how to collect.
I thought we had no exotics to collect around my area until one day I noticed plum like flowers in the bush on the side of the highway. Funnily enough the first year I collected nectarines that are mostly useless for bonsai. The next year I found we had elms, hawthorns, cotoneaster, firethorn and also good plum. Then a couple of years Later I found we also had olives and privet.
These where all mostly found by accident. So My best advice would be to just explore. Always have your collecting radar on. As you become accustom with more species of trees and bushes you will see them around you. Go exploring, collect a couple of anything to experiment but mostly just enjoy your day because you will always find the harder you work the better your luck.

Thanks for the positive feedback Bretts

I agree. It's a really remote location surrounded by national-parks and (as a novice) I struggle to locate/identify exotics.
Next time I must focus more on preparation, identification and smooth transplant/transport. I also need to better read into after-collection-care.

I only resurrect this post as I'm due to take another trip later this month.
I plan to cut-back, dig-around and mark likely plants. I will then return late winter next year and hopefully they will be alive for collection.

I will try and post some photos once I have something to be proud of lol.

Thanks again,

COLLECTING GUMS..First dig around the root ball and cut off one side of the extending roots then cover it up. Come back in three months and do the other side and take of all the foliage. Cover it back up. Observe the tree until you see the buds starting to pop, uncover it and cut through the tap root dig it up and take it home. i can do this on my property and i am doing one now. I just cant keep them alive for their first major repot after collection. But i can get them out of the ground and keep them alive till then, more experiments.

Venture was a success and good times (and only saw a couple black snakes!).

Spent a few (very fast) hours preparing, cutting back and pre-digging maybe 50~100 interesting candidates.
I also resisted prematurely digging up anything special (which I’m quite proud of myself for! ).
I plan to return in 6~12months and see what’s to be seen and hopefully collect a few.

In the mean-time I can start working on a bonsai bench!... well at least working on my boss(wife) to allow me to begin working on a bench!

Cheers,

Heading to the south Shoalhaven this weekend for a wedding but my family has a few acres so ... im thinking of taking a wonder also their is an old pine plantation and across the road from it national park with all these none native self sown pines ripe for plucking haven't been their for 5 years at least but im sure their will be something to grab my eye

Rintar wrote:Heading to the south Shoalhaven this weekend for a wedding but my family has a few acres so ... im thinking of taking a wonder also their is an old pine plantation and across the road from it national park with all these none native self sown pines ripe for plucking haven't been their for 5 years at least but im sure their will be something to grab my eye

while you are there, Cut back a heap to develop low branches and shape for collection in 5 years time

Ken

Good point Im hopefully convincing tex048 to come for a look see as well and that was part of the plan and the other was to try make yearly visits

Try....]

cheers Jas