A sheoak pic for Steven

[craigw60]

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Heres a long overdue pic of my cas. I nearly lost this tree 2 years ago when it dried out in august unheard of here. I have since had to grow a new set of sub branches. This species is amazing for their ability to seemingly come back from the dead. It had some of Ants treatment in early Feb completely bare rooted for the first time there was a lot of nasty old potting mix underneath it and I reckon its going to be a much better tree now that has gone. Will now always bare root my cas at potting time as I do with all trees that can take it. So much better to change all the potting mix if you can.
Craig

[bodhidharma]

A lovely looking tree Craig. I have a Toralosa that needs a rework and will use this to motivate me

[Regan]

Great tree Craig.

I really want to get some of these

regan

[Ryan1979b]

Love the tree, I'm really starting to enjoy Casuarina's.

Great work

[anttal63]

Nice one craig! glad its panned out for this tree!

[craigw60]

Thanks guys. One of the great things about this site is it forces me to photograph my trees which I have never really bothered with much in the past. gives them a whole new perspective. When I look at this pic I see my tree is looking a little rough and needs lots of wire.
Craig

[Jamie]

that is one thing bout photography isnt it, it will always show up the faults rather than catch the pros of a tree, which can be a good thing as it gives a different perspective of the tree and alllows us to go back and fix or remove or even just change an angle on the tree and then shoot it again.

great tree craig, i am sure you will get it where you want it in no time

jamie

[Bretts]

It is a great help Craig. Good on you for embracing this. Many are too scared to especially when they have alot of time invested already. I often find myself rearranging a tree after taking a picture and often only decide whether to show a tree online after I look at the pictures. Yet this is not always the case and I find I am now getting better at knowing when I have it right and a tree will look better in a picture. One trick I learnt recently (might have been in Roberts book) is to close one eye. This enables you to see the 2 dimensional line of the tree better.
This is a great tree but My biggest issue at the moment is the pot. I think it is too narrow and too deep. I can't figure out what shape pot this should have yet. Maybe a rectangular one will work when the dimensions are right. I also think it is leaning just a touch too much.

[Bretts]

Ooh-ooh-ooooh! Mr. Kotter

I know what is troubling me. The base of the tree is too close to the edge of the pot on the right. It gives the impression that there is no root under the soil which will stop the tree from falling over. Hence it is unbalanced.
Still needs to be to the right of the pot but with a wider pot you can also have more room for at least the impression of roots on the right to stop the tree falling over.

[craigw60]

Thanks for that Brett I think you are 100% correct with regards to the pot which is a rectangular poured japanese pot. and is way too chunky for the tree. The thing with me and my pots is that I have quite a few in the shed but it seems no matter how many you have the correct pot is never on hand, the result is that most of my trees go into pots which will do the job but are more than often not really right for the tree being potted. As to the angle of the tree I will put a wedge under it for a while then make up my mind on that one after studying it for a few days.
Craig

[Bretts]

Might be ok with a different pot but I do think it could come up a touch. If I think of a pot shape I will let you know. Maybe rectangular no lip low feet and angled sides(also angular in appearance) and shallower than yours. I have a reddy brown in picture but I think that is a bit gaudy. Na duno

[Steven]

G'day Craig and thanks for posting this!

I love the aged look of the bark and lichen growing on it. I agree with the comments about the pot and if it were mine I would be putting it in a rugged oval - perhaps Penny of Mudlark might have one of her signature free form lichen pots that would suit?

I also agree that it needs some more wiring to achieve a Casuarina look. You might find some inspiration in my posts on Casuarina in the wild;
Whole tree's by the river
Branch structure
Nebari and Uro

Can you fill us in on a bit of the history of this tree? Where did you get it and when? When do you repot and what after care do you do?

Thanks again Craig! I look forward to seeing more of your tree as you continue to sculpt it.

Regards,
Steven

[Glenda]

All the casuarinas I have seen have much longer needles than this tree. How did you get them shorter, or is it this species?

Glenda

[Pup]

What a fine looking tree, the comments that have been made show that people observe more than we think when they look at the pictures posted.
It also makes us look more critically at our tree's.

I do have some theories on this, one is to revisit yours tree's on a regular basis, I go though mine about every 12 months to see what improvements can be made.

The other is when we have looked at our tree's every day for however!!. We know it is a good tree,BUT there is something that is not quite right.
This is when given the opportunity we should let some one else give it a critique.

On the last weekend in February our club had Lindsay and Glenis Bebb here. We were asked to bring tree's for critique as usual there were those that should have and those that thought we had better make up the numbers then there was ME.

I had a tree that I liked BUT. So I took it along we talked about this tree for half an hour every body had an opinion. Except one person who's comment was I have not been doing Bonsai long enough!!. He was the person I wanted to here from. So with a bit of cajoling he gave his view, it surprised him to here Lindsay and I agree with him.
The point of my ramble is that just because you have only been doing it a short time. If you observe good tree's this is what you aim for.
Also remember people who have made comments and recommendations to Craig on his tree have not been alive for as long as he has been doing Bonsai, but if it is constructive he as will, all elder statesmen of the Bonsai fraternity will listen and take them on board if they work fine if not will say why not. Also give reasons why certain things are done.
Which brings up the needle length question,Glenda. I believe they have been pinched as mine have to keep them shorter.

Sheeeez what a long drawn out answer of course I could even be wrong

Cheers Pup as you must have gathered waiting to go some where so have a bit of time to kill

[Glenda]

......Which brings up the needle length question,Glenda. I believe they have been pinched as mine have to keep them shorter......

I have heard this term "pinched" before, but I don't quite understand. Do you just pull them out with your fingers and they grow back shorter, or do you break them off half-way?

Glenda