AusBonsai

Thanks guys.... Leaf size is a major factor in getting this lot to work well, the majority before defoliating were around 3-4" long with some as small as 1" & largest of about 6". Keeping on top of pinching should work well for keeping them small, I think the hardest part will be getting the size consistent... time will tell.

Still showing colour in some of the new growth, the main tree is a bit behind the rest but all in all they handled the repot well.

With growth strong these got a haircut & reduction in the number of new branches.

Can these be trained as a single tree.
Im working on one and yes challenging. I find though the leaves are easy to reduce in size.
Last year I had 2 flowers which was nice. the trunk now has barked up nicely.

rayfam5 wrote:Can these be trained as a single tree.
Im working on one and yes challenging. I find though the leaves are easy to reduce in size.
Last year I had 2 flowers which was nice. the trunk now has barked up nicely.

They are easily grown as a single tree & agree the leaves are easy to reduce however I would still be aiming for a medium to larger sized tree. I had a large collected tree but lost it to phyto

It was getting to be a very crowded mess so a couple of weeks ago I trimmed out alot of the new branches & started getting some direction into those that remained, since then it has powered on again so it was time for another defoliation. Leaf size is highly variable but with aggressive trimming & defoliating I hope it will even out in time. The majority are around the size of the smaller leaf (4cm) and as branches extend they get larger (up to20cm).

Constant vigilance as new backbuds pop up everywhere eventually gets results. I have just finished tipping all the new shoots as they had started to enlongate & produce bigger leaves. There has been an explosion of budding on the lower parts of the trunk & so far I am leaving them be, options for more branching, potential fattening of some trunks etc

Great job of what I would consider to be a difficult specimen.
What a result from a $20 bargain!
The reduced leaves look fantastic!

Not a big fan of these tree's in the nature..
There's one out the backyard that drops shari in my yard and gutters all day/year long...
The local bats love to get involved in them too making a racket from time to time!

Have seen a few around in flower though recently and for a tree that doesn't rate too high on my wish list they did look spectacular to say the least.

Thanks, I am happy with how its coming together, with more ramification & regular defoliation I hope leaf size will come down even more & also become a bit more consistent as it is still highly variable across the trees.

I have said before & will again, I love grevillea's & mature robusta in full bloom is one of the most spectacular sights, even more so when full of birds feeding on the nectar rich flowers. Not a good tree for suburbia tho, better to go with one of the smaller species or one of the many hybrid grevillea's. I have lots in my garden & a couple more in training for bonsai, might be time I started a thread for one of them...

Very nice work, It will be interesting to see if they will flower

I defoliated this tree on the 22nd dec & again a week ago, overall I am happy with how its coming along.

In full leaf I can see a few further tweaks to some of the trunk lines is in order. Only a back shot for now as my batteries died... While I could easily get away with defoliating again I will tip any overly strong branches and remove a few in the wrong place. I have a vague idea of how I would like it to eventually look and am considering removing the main tree to its own pot to speed the development, not sure how it would go come time to transfer it back into the forest....

Front pic when the batteries charge.

Batteries charged, lighting good and an interesting feature on my new camera to trial... Not sure if it improves the appearance of depth or not.......

I have r3duced my leaves of my grevillea, its a single tree
about 12 years old. No flower as yet you would have to allow to grow without trimming.

rayfam5 wrote:I have r3duced my leaves of my grevillea, its a single tree
about 12 years old. No flower as yet you would have to allow to grow without trimming.

I would be keen to hear your experiences with grevillea as bonsai, I have a few different species on the go & a number of ground growing trials underway. G.robusta in particular show incredible leaf reduction but so far is still very uneven across this grouping, not only between trees but on a single tree, my hope is with increased ramification it will improve.