AusBonsai

I've done it , the tree is suffering a very sad life at present, no new shoots fron the trunk whatsoever, only sucker shoots, i won't be in a hurry to recomend anyone tries it with a tree like you have here,..

Hi all,

Decided to do a test on a portion of a Mel rhaphiophylla in a group that was going to be removed anyhow.

Here is the photo today and it was trimmed back about a week ago.
Here is a thinner piece cut back about 2 weeks ago and budding nicely behind existing growth.
PS. It is still cool here. No hot weather yet but lots of rain.

Grant

Some of my rhaphiopgylla's have gone berserk some are sulking as with all, the natives.

We have had a very unseasonal burst of rain, so I think they will take off like Bondi trams very soon.

Regards Pup

Hi all,

We have had a very cool summer here so far but the single Mel rhaph has responded very well after the hard prune with lots of growth every where; but no budding back in older areas yet. (We doubled the fertiliser rate this year)
Very interesting results on the group of Mels however.

Grant

Hi all,

Where we cut back very hard on the old apex it budded back freely on the younger or damaged/previous branch collar but not on older wood. Interestingly it did so even with a young live apex above it I took the opportunity to trim back totally a very young sprout and it budded back all over pretty evenly. One young tree that was cut back hard but not all foliage removed also budded back on the lowest and weakest part Grant

Hi all,

Pups Mel R has responded very well this year to the extra fertilizer and the hard trim; despite the very cool temps for Canberra all summer and spring.
We are doing a trim today and it will probably get a few more light trims before it stops growing for the year.

Grant