The Victorian Native Bonsai Club hosted the 10th Symposium of Australian Native Plants as Bonsai in Melbourne at the end of August. The two day native infusion was well planned, superbly delivered and the delegates got a lot of facts and hints on growing natives as bonsai.
The following are random notes taken during the presentation on eucalypts.
• Eucalypt bonsai need angle changes, deadwood, scars and hollows to produce an authentic looking bonsai.
• Hard cut gums to remove awkward growth. Go with the way they grow, and your styling then becomes more of a refinement. Let the tree grow and annually cut it back hard.
• Every time you repot, plant the tree at a different angle and after several years you will get a three-dimensional tree that is quirky and interesting.
• Gums grow rampantly in training pots; their growth is more subdued in a bonsai pot.
• Gums need a strong trunk, everything else is secondary. One presenter felt it was better to grow from a small plant and develop rather than buy a more advanced tree with styling problems while another presenter preferred to work with older trees. In either case, go for the interesting bits and cut off the boring bits. Gums can develop really interesting trunks without too much grower ‘interference’ other than regular angle changing.
• Don’t let gums dry out- they don’t like it and can respond by dying back or dying. Like many natives, gums send out extended or deep roots seeking water and in a pot situation they are very thirsty. The use of water trays seemed to depend on whether the enthusiast worked or was retired and thus could water more than once a day.
• Don’t cut off die back, work it into the design. Eucalypts do their own thing; don’t be nice, grow hard and cut back hard.
• When changing from one soil to another, the underside of the tree needs to be cleaned out, so root rot doesn’t develop. When changing the tree’s soil, be sure to mix the new soil through the old and not just fill in the spaces in the pot. Always keep some of the original soil around the tree so friendly microbes are still available to the plant.
• If you have a sacrificial branch and the tree isn’t going ahead as fast as it should, cut the sacrificial branch and you will likely find the tree will power ahead.
• Eucalypts are needy trees and require more work than other species. Work on the roots first, let the tree rest several months and then start the styling. Don’t do the two together. The tree will be healthier as a result.
• Take note of what you can do with older trees and with younger trees do it twice as hard.
• Don’t worry too much about wire cutting in, when the bark comes off the wire marks will go. Sealants aren’t necessary, natives will heal without it.
• It is important to learn how often you need to repot. Some natives are vigorous rooters and need repotting more than once a year. Don’t repot when the tree is flowering.
• Some growers kept their trees trimmed, others preferred to let them grow wild for a while and then trim to maintain the best health in the tree.
• You can get astonishing shapes by working this way.
The results speak for themself
