AusBonsai

I had a Lilly Pilly in the garden which was grown as part of a low hedge. It was shaped as a tall, topiary "pyramid" and was about 2 m high. I decided I didn't like it and want to get rid of it, so I thought I'd try to develop it as a formal upright due to the straight tapered trunk.

Here it is a few months ago in June 2014 before I did anything to it. In June (2014), I cut the top half off and gave it a good trim, including taking a number of branches off the lower part of the trunk. Then in September I dug it out and planted it into a bonsai pot. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the root, but one thing I found was that they were very brittle. I tried to keep as much roots as possible, but it was in a difficult spot to dig....hopefully it survives the summer. I did have to chop quit a few large root off, but overall I don't think the roots were that well developed given the size of the tree.

I'm not planning on doing anything more to it until next season (assuming it survives). Any suggestions are welcome.
PS - I didn't have a beer bottle for scale, so I used the next best thing!

Hi,

The only thing I think you need to do is reduce the height of the plant to bring it more in line with the dimensions of the trunk to pot. Just sayin' .

Cheers,

Brad Jackson aka Brad75.

Thanks Brad....I was wondering if it was perhaps a little tall. What about if I removed some of the top branches and carved the top 15cm or so of the trunk to be deadwood? Although I guess before I get too carried away I should concentrate on making sure it survives.

I wouldn't do anything for at least 12 months or more. But yes, you would probably want to eventually consider a large chop about half way up the trunk, or so.

Hi JPG,

A carve would look good but I would focus on helping the tree adapt to the pot. Remember SEASOL is your friend.

Cheers,

Brad.

Yep, it's been getting seasol every few days and lots of water. Seems to be ok so far.

Hi JPG,

Rock on!

Cheers,

Brad.

JPG wrote:Thanks Brad....I was wondering if it was perhaps a little tall. What about if I removed some of the top branches and carved the top 15cm or so of the trunk to be deadwood? Although I guess before I get too carried away I should concentrate on making sure it survives.

It will still give an unusally taller tree.
Chop lower and wire up a new apex to give taper in the top section

Ken

seems to be a good candidate for ' candelabra, style

Guy wrote:seems to be a good candidate for ' candelabra, style

I've never heard of "candelabra style"....I had to google it. Very interesting style - somewhat similar to Literati but with a straight trunk. Definitely worth considering, but it may be beyond my abilities at the moment as I'm very much starting out. Perhaps if formal upright doesn't work (i.e. I get a bit overzealous and cut too much off... ), then I can fall back to this style.

An update.

I haven't done any work on this one other than regular feeding. It seems to be liking it's new home and has lots on new growth and it's looking pretty healthy.

A couple of questions - when is the best time to work on Lilly Pillys. Also, how long do you generally wait after transplanting before doing any major work on the plant?