AusBonsai

This Leptospermum has been thru alot of experiments over the last 2yrs and survived them all, including cutting back to a bare stump & barerooting (not at the same time). While most of my other trees have either been rehomed or planted out to become full size, I decided to keep this one to grow on as a bonsai. It was repotted about 4wks ago into one of my own pots, the broken out section was a perfect fit for the extensive deadwood. Standing a mighty 7cm from soil to tip, it still has a long way to go but if my other lepto is anything to go by, it wont take too long to get it where I want. At next repot I will remove a few back roots to enable it to be tilted forward a bit. While the bulk of it is deadwood, on the underside roots extend from the entire area, probably why the upper portion hadn't rotted away as per normal with this species.

Comments & critique always welcomed.
Matt

Edit:- Spelling

I can't help thinking that the "left" side shows off the deadwood better, but in the bark it might be quite different. Good pot, particularly from that angle.

Any tips on cutting back to bare wood, and bare rooting leptos? I know you "can't", so now I want to know how and when you did it...

Thanks for posting.

Gavin

Hey Gavin,

You can study it to your hearts content when we meet.

"can't" isnt a word in my vocabulary... It was bare rooted a month ago to be fitted into this little pot (from a 4" square herb pot it was a major root reduction) I also reduced it to a minimum of growth but left some green. It was cut back to bare wood mid january, took a fair while to start showing signs of life again but didnt die like the other that I cut back & repotted at the same time. AFTERCARE!!!!!! FULL SUN & water twice a day, more to help draw air thru the mix than for moisture reasons. It also resides in a tray of gravel keeping it just above the water.

Matt

Ps: In the past I have been criticised for collecting such insignificant material but what it has taught me is more than all the experts & books could ever teach.

Hi Matt, good to see you having success with this one mate!
Do you know what species it is? and just to clarify, was this originally collected or nursery stock?
I am sure you explained it, but I didn't quite understand ...did you cut it back the first yr, and the in early Feb 2012 bare root it? I realise you did both these things and I am glad they worked etc, but I was unsure of the amount of time between both procedures.
Also thanks for including your after care treatment
Look forward to the progress reports.
Cheers, Dario.

Hi Matt
I'm intrigued when two plants are treated the same and show very different responses. Your notes on two leptos both being bare-rooted' and one survived well and one didn't. For me it is 'Why?'.

Question: how 'bare' is 'bare'? Really all soil removed from the roots, such as you would get if you buy 'bare-rooted' roses or apples from a nursery? Did you notice any difference in the amount/location of fine roots after bare-rooting but before potting up? Were there small clumps of soil that could have had fine roots still attached to the main roots that one plant had and the other not? Did one dry out more than the other as you went about the repotting? etc...

Experiences such as yours are most valuable. Keep them up and keep letting us know...

Looking forward to Gavin's return and all his treasures of knowledge from his time with you!

Roger

Dario & Roger,

This is Leptospermum trinervium, it was collected from under powerlines with a small amount of local soil. Powerlines are a great place to see what responds, how... As they are constantly mowed to ground level, it is easy to see what local species can survive total removal of growth & what cannot by observing what is growing under the lines as opposed to what is not. Bare rooting is just the next stage in determining how far we can push them.

All I had done was pinch new growth as it extended. In february I decided to see what I could get away with & used another collected at the same time to plant into a group setting, it was cut back to bare wood & bare rooted. While doing so I cut this one back to bare wood but did not repot. The one repotted did not come back, this one took some time but eventually shot away.

Bare rooting... I removed the plant from its nursery pot & gave it a good shake, removing most of the soil. I then shortened the roots to about 2cm long & got a toothpick to loosen & remove the remaining local soil. I didnt hose out the roots so some bits of soil remained attached to them. The roots were then shortened even more to enable fitting the pot. Both trees had a similar amount of fine root & soil left after working but before potting, I dont think one dried out more than the other...

Why did the first die & the second survive? I have a couple of theories but the most likely is that I only did one operation at a time, ie cut to bare wood but left roots alone in first op, bare rooted but kept most of the growth up top in the second operation. Another factor may well be the aftercare, the first was put in part shade, the second was put in full sun. I would still be careful with doing either procedure but its good to know I can do both.

This pic was at the time of repotting on the 25/4, I tip pruned but left most of the growth. It has just started to push new buds all over so is definitely on its way again. Hope that helps.
Matt

Ps Was great to meet Gavin & talk trees. He made me really think about what I have done, how & why & what I could take from my experiments. It has been a long time since I went digging but the fire is back & I will be back out collecting again come August... Thanks mate.... No thanks for making me realise I have to keep much better notes (memory is not the best)

Matt
Many thanks for those notes. Much appreciated.

I shall work through them carefully, as I'm getting a bit confused in tracking what happened to each tree ('this one', 'that one', 'first one', 'second one'). I'll work through the notes and get back to you with what I think you've said .

Cheers
Roger

Hey Roger,

Its confusing to me & I did the work. I have to keep better notes and do alot more testing to really be able to give definitive answers.

Matt

Ps I have one more from that round of collecting that is just crying out for me to play with it.

I had a look thru my pics, this is it in early dec '11, overgrown & not showing any of its real potential.

I dont have a pic of the 1st tree but here is the 3rd from that series of tests and a simple rundown of what has been done. October 2010
Collected using my keyhole method (I will go into this seperately).
January 2012
#1,repotted, bare root & cut back to bare wood. It died.
#2 not repotted but pruned back to bare wood. This is the tree at start of this thread.
#3 Repotted, bare root but left plety of green up top. It was a bit slow to respond but is now doing well, with root appearing at the drainage hole. All are growing in my standard mix of 50:50 by volume 5mm sharp gravel & potting mix (not the cheapest or dearest). I have been using Osmocote native and more than happy with the results.

Bending As others have also observed these guys are brittle & even small diameters are crazy hard to bend but I think cracking is essential, not only to make the bend but help it hold position. They need good protection of the thin bark (I use a double layer of raffia), cracks will happen on the outside of bends & dont heal, so the lifelines need to be studied & understood before starting. In larger diameter branches (anything over 10mm) I think splitting would be a possible way to overcome their resistant nature. Make the split, let it recover then make the bend with the heartwood on the outside of the curve.

A confused,
Matt

Edit: Attach pic

Thanks for the notes Matt!
It sounds like a good idea to keep detailed records as my memory isn't the best either and with so many trees it is hard to recall exactly what was done and when, especially as time rolls by... as of now I am inspired to keep notes myself
I will be very interested to learn more about your "keyhole" collecting method.
Happy collecting this August, Dario.

Matt
Great set of notes. Much appreciated.

A little hard to pick out a definitive pattern or responses. It seems to me that #1 is 'unusual'. #2 shows that it can reshoot from severe pruning. # 3 is a bit odd, but would indicate that bare-rooting of itself doesn't necessary mean the plant dies.

I find it a bit hard to rationise why having the green top would compensate for the bare-rooting. Might be a fluke. If you can re-try the #1 experiment and see what happens, that would be most useful.

I've been growing this lepto for many years, perhaps 20 - I'll check records sometime (I'm up to my wethers in work just now, so don't hold your breath!). I love the filo pastry bark of wild trees and it is readily produced in the pot. Mine shoot back on old wood all the time, without pruning back, so it doesn't surprise me that yours did too - there are obviously regenerative buds under the bark of old wood. In the wild, these can grow in very fire-prone habitats. The old trees are protected by the thick bark and often readily survive the fires and re-shoot from the trunk. Mature trees/shrubs are like pre-formed bonsai!

I'll try to post a couple of pics of wild trees as well as mine in the pot - no great shakes, but I still love it.

Roger