AusBonsai

Hi everyone,

While I addressed this question to Pup, anyone please feel free to answer. (I addressed this post to Pup because of his expertise with natives particularly callistemons )

This callistemon is growing in my mother's yard. It is less than a metre high, but the trunk is thicker than my wrist. It was planted the same time as another callistemon just 2 metres away which is now nearly 3 metres tall. The smaller one is growing in the shade of a large ponsianna tree, and only gets very late afternoon sun for about 30 minutes before coming into the shade of a neighbour's house, and this seems to have made a natural bonsai out of it. Should I dig i up? If so, when would be the best time? Our weather at present is very hot and humid. I DO have permission, provided I replace it with something that will grow in the shade

Glenda

Definately worth digging up; but trimming back hard first will give you lots of more compact growth down low.

If there is no hurry to dig up you could cut back hard now, get some new growth and dig up in march/april/may depending on your climate.

Over to Pup.

Grant

Grant Bowie wrote:Definately worth digging up; but trimming back hard first will give you lots of more compact growth down low.

If there is no hurry to dig up you could cut back hard now, get some new growth and dig up in march/april/may depending on your climate.

Over to Pup.

Grant

Spot on Grant, but if it has to come out now it should be OK. As the one in the collection was dug in full flower, although quite a few were taken off.
So the tree had a much better chance.

Good luck and go Pup

Thanks Grant and Pup. There is no great hurry to dig. My mum is happy either way. I will have to make room for it if I do dig Any advice on digging other than spading around the tree, watering with seasol, and leave for a few weeks to develop a more compact root ball?

Glenda

Hi Glenda,
This is good material!
If you are in no hurry to dig it up then there are a lot of things you can do to prepare the tree. You can fertilize it with a high P:K fertilizer in advance. Do this a few days to a week before trimming the plant down. That way the leaves in the plant help draw up the nutrients and the plant gets some good energy making done just before you prune. Yo will get better back budding when you do prune. Then prune it down but leave a lot of leaves, take out the ends of shoots but still leave a lot of leaves for growth. All you are tryining to do is force back budding at this stage. You can also clear the grass away from the trunk and top dress it with mulch (not right up to the back though). Seasol or a root growth formula will help root growth. Spade around it in sections and come back latter to dig it out. Callistemon transplant pretty well so long as you keep them really nice and moist afterwards.
have fun
Ash

Gday Glenda, Ash has given good advice there. I always if possible water the root ball when I dig it, helps you and the tree.
The soil is softer to dig, and the plant has taken ( for want of a better expression ) a large gulp of air to sustain it, while you butcher the roots.
Not literally though, do it as you would any Bonsai clean all cuts so there are no rough edges, or broken ones then all should be fine.

Cheers Pup

Hey Glenda,

Hope you dont mind me hijacking your thread. I have been offered a Callistemon 'Little John' in exchange for one of my pink Frangipani. I have always admired this tree & would like to keep as much of its natural size & shape as possible... It is approx 1mtr high with a spread of approx 1.5mtrs and a trunk of about 10-12cm dia. It is growing on very poor clay ground so I dont expect much fine root close in to the trunk. A couple of questions...

How much root should I take with the tree? I have clear access all round so there is no issue with taking a large rootball. I can always work to reduce it over the coming years.

How much should I cut it back? Can I just prune out the unwanted parts (about 30-40%) & leave the rest intact or should I shorten all of the growth?

Does the timing mentioned (march-may) apply for all Callistemon or should 'Little John' be treated any different?

Matt

MattA wrote:Hey Glenda,

Hope you dont mind me hijacking your thread. I have been offered a Callistemon 'Little John' in exchange for one of my pink Frangipani. I have always admired this tree & would like to keep as much of its natural size & shape as possible... It is approx 1mtr high with a spread of approx 1.5mtrs and a trunk of about 10-12cm dia. It is growing on very poor clay ground so I dont expect much fine root close in to the trunk. A couple of questions...

How much root should I take with the tree? I have clear access all round so there is no issue with taking a large rootball. I can always work to reduce it over the coming years.

How much should I cut it back? Can I just prune out the unwanted parts (about 30-40%) & leave the rest intact or should I shorten all of the growth?

Does the timing mentioned (march-may) apply for all Callistemon or should 'Little John' be treated any different?

Matt

Matt, as your climate is similar to mine i have treated all my bottle brushes the same way without a hitch. So do as i have,same as Ash has mentioned, you should be fine mate.