AusBonsai

Hey Jamie, the crown definitely needs some width doesn't it. I would like the canopy to fill out quite a bit now that the tree is settled into a pot, if I could close up the spaces between the branches a little I'd be happy. Not too much, I want a bit of negative space there. The lower left and right branches are about as interesting as icy pole sticks at the moment too, I'll rectify that in spring. By November these trees will be getting pinched once every 7-10 days, I'd hate to think how fast they would bolt along in your climate.

Hugh, Luma buds back quite well, branch removal is not a problem, I don't know about adventitios budding from trunk chops, when I chopped the tunks on these two, I always cut to a bud or shoot to develop a new leader. It might be OK. If you are the sort of person who likes to pinch shoots, here is a species for you.

Cheers,
Mojo Moyogi

I'd hate to think how fast they would bolt along in your climate.

send one up and we will test it

Thanks mate, your advice is appreciated
Oh well I'll see how she goes, If it dosnt come along then it's a good experiment I suppose.

Hugh

that 2nd one is a beauty Mojo, i'll have to have a look around for these, they look like they could have a lot of potential.

Cheers Regan

hey mojo

looking closer at these trees, that second one i cant see any scars or the likes on the trunk but it has some nice taper. are there chop marks on these or do they heal over very quickly?

Jamie, Luma scars heal pretty slowly, the species has very thin bark. I was determined to not have any scars visible from the front of the tree. With the beauty of the smooth bark on these, any scars would be very obvoius and ugly. On tree #2 the trunk has had plenty of directional pruning, all cuts are hidden at the back.
In the picture above, the red dots are curves as a result of chops, the new leader was wired in a curve to smooth the directional change and allowed to grow flat out until it had made 1/2 to 2/3 of the diameter of the trunk section below. The blue dot is a change of trunk direction achieved by wiring only.

Cheers
Mojo

beautiful mojo

thats how you grow a tree, with a image in mind, a trunk line and you work with it to the best advantage

hugh grant wrote:Brilliant looking trees mojo I'm very impressed by them.
Do they bud back well or at all if you give them a complete trunk chop? Cuz the funny thing is I actually dug one up 2 days ago an chopped it back to just the trunk. It's not that thick only about 1.5cm

hugh

Mojo Moyogi wrote: don't know about adventitios budding from trunk chops, when I chopped the tunks on these two, I always cut to a bud or shoot to develop a new leader. It might be OK. If you are the sort of person who likes to pinch shoots, here is a species for you.

hugh grant wrote:Thanks mate, your advice is appreciated
Oh well I'll see how she goes, If it dosnt come along then it's a good experiment I suppose.

Hugh

Well its been about 2 months since digging the little tree up and ITS FINALY BUDDED, i was just about to take it out of the pot to put something else in it, as i thought it hadnt come through. but i dicided to scrape a little bark from the top to see if had dried but it was fresh and green, so ilooked all over it and found a few little green buds coing from the bottom half of the tree!!
So now ive discovered that you can cut them back to a stump and shoot back. but i reckon it would come back alot faster and better in spring and very early autumn.

Hugh

Jamie wrote:

I'd hate to think how fast they would bolt along in your climate.

send one up and we will test it

Isn't the Chilean Myrtle a temperate species? Our climate might kill it, Jamie. But try one anyway!