AusBonsai

I did this phoenix graft as a demo at the BSQ about 8 years ago. The wood is an old piece of Gum that took me about 6 years to get off my sister. I always loved the centre of it, and spent around 8 hours carving it over 3 days. Two young Juniper procumbens nana were fitted to the wood and let grow for a bit.

The tree has been a bit neglected over the last couple of years and had developed phoma, distorting the new growth. It was definitely time for a clean up and to reclaim the tree
Sometimes life gets too busy to do everything we want, but as long as we keep em alive, there is always room to improve and reclaim. Have even thought of removing this tree and plant some young fresh ones.

Tony

Tony, mate you sure did a fantastic job of transforming that ordinary looking wood into a superb looking piece of art , Tony your posts are always so detailed, you even show the roots covered up when applying lime sulphur, it's very inspiring, thankyou for being so detailed. This is an awesome tree, great work

Hi Tony , i love the challenge of the Phoenix Grafts . Its an art in itself to get them to look the part from day one . The detailed carving of the stump is certainly inspiring .Cheers Alpineart

I think it looks fantastic mate.. One question what size screw did you use and do you need to replace them as the trunk grows?

It looks very realistic Tony. I think this due very much to the carving the wood. Not everyone cup of tea

Best regards.

Once again awsome work Tony its going to be quite a good tree in the future.

Hugh

Lovely work Tony
Is there only 1 tree left? I cannot see the one on the right

Ken

Thanks for the positive comments guys.

I certainly had some fun disecting and carving the wood. Still got 2 of the main offcuts to use one day. Got some plans for one of them.

Goff. Small 20mm countersunk screws. Brass is best with stainless steel. These are zinc plated. No need to remove the screws, the tree will grow over them. I always do it so the screw goes into the bark. It heals fairly quickly and will roll over the screw head.

Ken. Yes mate only one tree now. I had 2 goes with one on the right and died both times. Didn't seem to like being on the under side of the trunk. Surprised me both times as no real reason for it. Still thinking of removing this one and starting again as it got a bit tall. I will see how it regrows first.

Keep ya posted

Tony

Tree growing along nicely now. Have been waiting for the rain to stop before giving it a prune so the time is here. Been to wet here and it would most likely develop phoma. Some shoots are showing early signs as it is, so a prune and spray with fungicide is on the cards.
Will post when I give it a prune.

Tony

It is a wonderful piece of driftwood Tony. It would have accommodated another one or two attached trees so we could have seen the live bark in the front Beautiful anyway.

Nice recovery Tony
but what is this "phoma" you mention? never heard that term before

Ken

Looks a treat Tony, nice healthy foliage now, great job mate

kcpoole wrote:Nice recovery Tony
but what is this "phoma" you mention? never heard that term before

Ken

Ken it is a fungus disease, that distorts the new growth mainly on J,procumbens, it does not kill but weakens the tree so it is susceptible.
I have had it eventually be responsible for the demise of one of my oldest cascades.

Not knowing what it was till I read about it in Deborah Koreshoffs book.
It starts by looking like the tree needs a good feed, then if not treated, causes serious problems.

We had a horticulturist that insisted it was lack of fertiliser till we proved him wrong.

Regards Pup

Ps hope you do not mind Tony

Pup wrote:

kcpoole wrote:Nice recovery Tony
but what is this "phoma" you mention? never heard that term before

Ken

Ken it is a fungus disease, that distorts the new growth mainly on J,procumbens, it does not kill but weakens the tree so it is susceptible.
I have had it eventually be responsible for the demise of one of my oldest cascades.

Cool Thanks

Well put Pup.

Phoma can be a real problem here with the humidity, and as pup says, mostly on J procumbens and procumbens nana. Haven't seen it affect squamata. First sign is distorted or lumpy new shoots that get dead needles in them.

This one I will prune and spray with Mancozeb. Usually fixes and prevents it.

Bodhi; There used to be 2 trees. One either side. Will probably redo it one day with new trees. There are a few things I would do differently these days.

Thanks All

Tony