AusBonsai

All, i finally made it out to a spot i have had in the back of my mind since Alpine posted his collected pines.. It is a better area for collecting than i could possibly have imagined, there are Radiata pines , a few maritime pines, Casuarina by the truck loads and alot of other natives aswell, I will definately be going back soon, here are a couple of samples from today, the pines were collected with a good amount of rootball and mycorrhizae so i don't anticipate any issues with them, the casuarina- we'll have to wait and see if it lives or dies as they can be very touchy to collect succesfully,
and the casuarina's, nice old trunk, at this stage i'm not sure if the little trees are connected to the big tree under the soil, only time can tell
Have a great day

That's some nice stock there if it survives as you say mate. I like the Casuarina very much and certainly hope it survives for you.

Cheers Pup

You'll have to show me where this is when I make it over.
Nice work. Love the cas too.

A nice collect Craig. hows the back?

Thanks Pup, Brett and Bodhidharma, the back is fine , the Cas is a ripper there's quite alot of very nice one's out there too, needed to control myself and only took one as a test run . The pines are in superb condition and also i only took a couple of small ones today.
Brett no worries mate, when you get over again, we'll throw the blindfold on, spin you around 3 times and you can ride up there in the boot of my car, ,

Nice stock Craig. I find casuarina collecting is best in winter after initial rains as roots sprout out from trunk closer to surface. As soil dries as warmer weather starts they die off and tree feeds from lower roots Good Luck

addict2bonsai wrote:Nice stock Craig. I find casuarina collecting is best in winter after initial rains as roots sprout out from trunk closer to surface. As soil dries as warmer weather starts they die off and tree feeds from lower roots Good Luck

Thanks D,

Hi Craig , love the blue hue on that Pinus Pinaster , was it collected in semi shade or is that the natural colour owing to the ground its grown in , Very interested indeed . Cheers Alpine

Alpine, i'd say morning shade ,mid day sun then most likely shaded by other larger pines in the afternoon. There are more of these Pinaster pines up there, some in same conditions ,some in more shady spots, .The ground is very loose and friable, with excellent drainage . The Casuarinas, only a stones throw away, the soil is a very loose gravely,slightly claybased ground,moist but not holding water. Cheers mate

G'day all, the first Cas was being infested by ants so i gave the soil a freshen up and lime sulphured some deadwood, the ants are gone now . The Base of this tree is large at about 300mm across, it's now starting to grow again.
This is another Allocasuarina fraseriana - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocasuarina_fraseriana - collected from the same place, it's base is about 140mm across and the tree stands 850mm high .They are a little hard to find with bent trunks and taper as they usually grow straightish.
have a great day,