Red gum dig

[ben17487]

Hey all, just finished transplanting a red gum (I believe) after collecting it this weekend.

I cut it and a few others nearby back early last year and they all seem to have sprung back well so I thought I'd have a go at removing this one.
It had a hefty tap root but seemed to have some fresh feeder roots close to the base, hopefully it will survive!



The soil was very dense



Had quite a bulge just under the surface, I'm hoping once it's recovered I can get some nice radial roots out of it..



Had to put it in whatever I could find, ended up being rocks and clay/dirt, probably not preferable I assume



Potted up in a quickly made container and a fairly rocky mix



Any advice or knowledge passed on would be greatly appreciated as I don't know too much about these guys.

Cheers,
Ben

[shibui]

Tough looking ground this was growing in. Hope you have permission to dig these up????

[ben17487]

Yeh there's heaps of them on our property.
Tough indeed, it's extremely compacted but once you loosen the soil it breaks up very fine.

[shibui]

E. camaldulensis transplants reasonably readily. I have moved some with no toots at all, just cut back all the growth above the lignotuber and all of the tap root below the lignotuber. New shoots and roots can grow from the base.
Don't worry if the leaves all dry off and drop. They have the ability to shut down in time of stress and then shoot again when conditions are better. Chances are good that this one will survive. The real problem is making a treelike bonsai from it after it shoots Quite difficult in my experience but good luck.

[ben17487]

That's all good to hear! Yes I've seen and read that they're a challenging species to work with, hopefully I can learn and make something of it
Thanks for you're advise!

[ben17487]

Got some shoots beginning to sprout already!

[Kevin]

Hello Ben,
Good luck.
Keep posting, as i'll be watching with interest.
Kevin

[ben17487]

Cheers Kevin, will do!

[Mojo Moyogi]

Hi Ben, that is a nice bit of flare that you have showing at soil level and good movement to go with it. I hope that you use those strengths to your advantage with this tree. I'll be watching with interest.

Cheers,
Mojo

[ben17487]

Hey guys, the tree's pushing a lot of growth and looks like its recovering well from the transplant

I'm wondering though, since it has only been a few months since it was transplanted, Am i best not to trim or work on the tree until a year or so has passed?





I'm thinking when the time is right I will chop it low to the third newest shoot and start fresh from there..

Cheers!

[Sno]

Hi Ben . My expierance is to just let it grow , at this stage it's all about the roots and the more solar panels ie leaves the better . When it becomes time to work on the top I would ring bark instead of chopping down to your new hieght that way later you can maybe utilize the deadwood in your design if you want to . Looking good .
Cheers Craig

[Kevin]

Hello Ben,

The horticultural requirements of Eucalyptus as bonsai is an area in which i am presently endeavouring to learn. I have learnt there are many skilled practitioners about, like Sno - (loved your recent 'Stag Euc') unfortunately, documentation is sparse regarding successful methodologies. Attached below is some helpful advice afforded to me. Also, search in here using the name Flybri. Flybri has posted lots of helpful advice on his experiences with the Red Gum.

Your Eucalyptus is looking great.

Good Luck - Keep posting.

Kevin

I am amazed at some of the things said out there on growing the gum trees (Angophora, Eucalyptus and Corymbia sp.) as bonsai!!

After nearly 30 years experimenting with this group I have developed some guidelines for training them. (Note the Angophora specimen in my identity pane it is about thirty years old as trained as a bonsai and has a circumference of about 30 cm at the base.)

They are relatively easy if you follow these guidelines:

1. Can be re-potted at any time but it is best done in Autumn
2. Can remove at least 50% of roots provided that the soil remains wet for 3 weeks after re potting
3. Normal watering for the rest of the year
4. Do not shorten new growth until it has matured somewhat. (new shoots tend to die back if pruned too soon)
5. Defoliation, regular shoot pruning and keeping in a smaller pot will over time reduce leaf size naturally
6. Always remove any vertical shoots as soon as they appear.

Hope this is of some help. Please email me if I can be of any further help.
Dennis Mc

Hi Kevin,

I'll leave the discussion of the merits of Eucalyptus as a bonsai other than I think you can get good results. If you are inspired by a type of tree in nature then I think you need to pursue it.

I have a handful of gums that I've been growing for a while and initially I grew them in classic bonsai shapes. I'm now reshaping them all to look like an actual gum tree - so I've wasted a lot of styling time but I've learnt a bit about growing and shaping them. Most of them are River Reds but this might help:

Wire the trunk straight away but also choose and wire the primary branches as soon as possible. In nature Gums have massive branches that almost match the width of the trunk so you want them in place and growing quickly. In my observations even branches that extend below the horizontal still start off leaving the trunk close to the vertical so wire accordingly.

Don't let the wire bite into the bark, it can take years to lose the wire marks!

Let the branches grow unheeded until the base of them are really thick, at the final desired thickness. Then cut all the branches off, leaving large stumps and start again. You'll get masses of new shoots all over the tree, so pick the ones leaving the stumps at the desired angle, remove the rest and wire into place. Let these grow until the thickness is achieved and go again. Keep this up until you get the desired framework.

I've found with the river red gums I can get very small leaves by continuously letting the shoots grow out to about 4 pairs then cutting back to the tiny fist pair of leaves. If the internode is too long to the first pair, cut it all off and wait for the replacement shoot. It's a lot of work though as you need to do this once a fortnight at least. Don't do this though until your framework is finished.

Beware of letting any shoot getting too big in relation to the others as gums are really good at shedding branches they think they don't need. That's why I like to do all that uncontrolled growth evenly over the whole tree early when building the branches. Any strong shoots along a branch that grow vertically will cause all remaining growth along that branch to die off, so keep that in mind when building your tree.

I did start a thread on styling a River Red Gum which I should get back to, but here is some more reading ..

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=19627

Good luck.

Matt.

[ben17487]

Thanks sno, good to hear I'm interested to see how it reacts untouched for a year to get an understanding of timing for this particular species.

Thank you too Kevin, such a wealth of knowledge on here albeit a fair dig sometimes. Extremely helpful to have what you have posted in the one place
It's always a lovely surprise to go on a search and discover a gem of a post that you haven't scoured for information yet!

Thanks again, very eager to progress with this tree

[ben17487]

Gave this fella a chop over the weekend to remove the straight section, strong top growth and promote growth down lower. I wanted to see how active this tree will be in spring.

How old do you thing this tree is from the rings? 5 or 10 years? I don't understand how to tell the seasonal growth apart..



I'm also wondering if it's a good idea to root prune this coming summer as the tree will have been in this container for a year. Should I leave it for two? Or get the roots in track sooner rather than later..
I want to cut the lignotuber back as there's quite a bit under there.





Some nice fissures appearing in the bark now



I haven't really planned out my style yet (I have a vague drawing), which is very lazy of me because I know the early stages are important for these trees, but I'm certainly open for comments, criticisms and ideas!

Cheers
Ben

[Kevin]

Hello Ben,

It's looking very healthy.
Sorry no advice, other than already given.
Just watching and learning myself.
Good luck.

Kevin