AusBonsai

Progression thread : Allocasuarina torulosa 37

I Purchased this Casuarina from Leong at Bonsai South
Cost $30

This thread had to be restarted since the upgrade here, as the pictures are now hosted externally rather than on this site.

This would be my favourite Casuarina that I'm growing. I'm attempting to develop it as a natural styled Casuarina.
It is hard to make out as its still in its strong development stage, but there are now 3 branches developing at the lower area.
There are many natural traits that a lot of growers dislike with Casuarina which ironically are what make this iconic species so immediately recognizable. Yet many growers remove or discourage this, such as crossed branching, bar-branching, multiple trunks that do not start at the very base, and their long beautiful arching branches with no taper. (This is perfectly understandable as we've always been discouraged from allowing this, but I adore these traits on Casuarinas). It isn't actually that easy to maintain sweeping branches with no taper as the branching will thicken fast if you allow the branch to strongly develop, so you have to occasionally reduce the number of branchlets, but keep enough to maintain good health.

I find it is best to cut-and-grow to develop the sweeping branch movements, as opposed to wiring, as wiring doesn't give it that iconic look.
And another iconic trait of these guys is that they generally don't have a uniformed branching style on the one tree.

These species make aesthetically beautiful trees. The weeping foliage and very thin needles make this the most visually stunning of all the Casuarina species in my opinion.

DO NOT let these dry out. I recommend adding about 30-35 % washed course river sand for better drainage to your mix.
Don't let the lower branches get heavily shaded.

This photo was taken 18 Mar 2015



This photo was taken 17 Feb 2016



This photo was taken 20 Sep 2017



This photo was taken 01 May 2018



This photo was taken 28 Feb 2019



This photo was taken 15 Apr 2020

Good info, thanks

18Mar2015


17Feb2016


20Sep2017


01May2018


28Feb2019


20Feb2020


03Mar2021

Gosh I love this Casy. Come back here in about 10 years and I'll be pretty happy with it at that point.
10 Jan 2022

I’d be happy with it at this point let alone in ten years . Cool tree .

Yes, it's interesting what to do with Cas branches - not pine-style, but what else? They have a lovely soft fall in most trees, but very old trees get very complex angular branches.

Gavin

GavinG wrote: ↑January 12th, 2022, 8:47 pm Yes, it's interesting what to do with Cas branches - not pine-style, but what else? They have a lovely soft fall in most trees, but very old trees get very complex angular branches.

Very wise comment. Its not easy to shape Casuarina branches, because if you fall into the trap of styling them like traditional Japanese pines, they end up looking non-Australian. Its always best to have photos of them to constantly reference when you style them.

Most people style Casuarina branches with a fair degree of uniform continuity all along the trunk, and it looks inappropriate to me. And the most common trap is to develop significant taper. Casuarina are anti-taper trees if you actually look at their branching properly. Often ragged, long, crossing over and eventually weeping as they age, but not with strong taper throughout the branches.

The really old casuarinas that grow out from the pack and out over a river bank are always fascinating to study ... with their crooked but slowly weeping look. But the really old solitary ones in the middle of a plane or field are amazing to look at their ragged growth.

Any photos Rory? I don't think we have the information to do these well yet.

Gavin

This one is hard to photograph. Maybe as it spreads and develops its branches over time, it will have the foliage more on the outer areas.

I realize its not quite yet 01.01.2023, but its easier to post that its 2023, so looking back people can easily distinguish that its a year apart. Its only 1 day before the actual date.
01Jan2023

03Nov2023

Placed into a Pat Kennedy pot (Australia).
Beautiful tree, beautiful pot.

This thread drove me to find a torulosa for myself. Really cool tree. Thanks for sharing the progression, not just of this one but of all your natives.
Could I ask - is the copper foliage colouring an autumn phenomenon, or related to age / sun / feeding / other stuff?
Also - any repotting tips? I was as delicate as possible repotting, but still managed to lose much of the fissured bark at the base of mine.

Hi Promethius,

I appreciate the kind words.
It is a very hardy tree provided you don’t let it dry out and don’t constantly cut it back

The purple foliage is even more so during winter. As spring rolls around they usually start to get more green yes. Some of my torulosas are completely green, while others are still purplish.

Repotting these can be difficult because of the fragility of the deeply fissured bark. I usually start by taking it out and spraying it with the hose to try and remove all the easily removable old mix first. At some point you’ll have to get in there and use your fingers tho. This is when it gets tricky. You don’t want to hold the top fo the tree if the root system isn’t firm as this might badly damage the roots if the massive weight of the roots hanging down pulls too heavily on the base of the trunk.
As I get older, I find I’m less interested in maintaining taper with the bark, and don’t really care if I damage the bark at the base . This happens in the wild so just roll with it, so to speak.
But it can be a delicate balancing act to try and reduce the damage. My best tip is to place it on an upside down plastic pot so that the roots hang over the edge while you then try to work them. But this is actually easier to do on older material as opposed to younger material which tends to just fall over when you do that.

I have a lot more new threads to setup and progression threads to update, so stay tuned for a lot more casuarina updates among others. If you like the rough look of the bark, you could try Casuarina glauca. It develops a rough bark, nowhere near as fissured, but a lot stronger and a thick based glauca shows a lot of age to it, as opposed to torulosa which thickens quickly.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I haven’t been able to find any more of these in Victoria, but hope to start a batch from seed and will bear those tips in mind.

Andy

Haven't done much with this other than heavily reduce the branching and foliage up top, otherwise it thickens too quick and will ruin the overall aesthetic as I probably wont put much more height onto it.
We've had a lot of rain, so a small amount of moss has started forming at the base that I'll deal with soon.

10th May 2024

I've got a new home for this Casy.... a big Pat Kennedy rectangle.
I've trimmed the roots, given it a new mix and allowed it to grow strong.
Love this one.
I will now just let it grow out a lot more and keep the upper half trimmed a bit more regularly so it doesn't over-thicken the upper half.

I admit I made a mistake with this one and allowed it to thicken too much up top too soon, therefore I'd prefer to grow it bigger now and keep the upper structure thinner, hence the bigger pot now. I could have simply trunk chopped and started again, but I don't want a 'squat' casuarina. Therefore - going forward- I will keep a better eye on this species and not allow so much upper growth to upset the design.
With the smaller pot, it wasn't allowing a full head of hair to be displayed in summer, because it was drying out the mix too quickly, so with this much bigger pot it easily allows the tree to have a much bigger spread of gorgeous thick needles now and I don't have to worry about it on a 40 degree day.

Having a thick weeping mass of foliage is what makes this species absolutely stand out and the reason they are the best Casuarina to grow as bonsai, but you MUST not allow them to dry out and therefore you need a lot of room in the pot so the mix doesn't dry out quickly. I have not added as much river sand to the mix with this repot to also allow for slower drainage. Because if the mix dries out on a hot windy day, you usually don't get a second chance with this species.
15Nov2024