Allocasuarina Torulosa

[Jeremy]

This is a small tree ive been working on for 12 months. The first styling wasn't to peoples taste on another forum but I knew where I wanted to take the tree and kept at it. The general consensus was that the apex leaned too far forward... in my eye thats perfectly acceptable, expecially since this is styled like a Pine.

The overall silhouette is almost in place, just needs some more thinning out and branch selection. The apex is undefined and the branch I want to use is quite weak. The first branch also needs more movement wired in, I will complete these works in 3 months when it warms up.
The base is actually a lot wider, just needs to get rid of the moss. And the jin will get some carving and treatment soon.

Any suggestions for the future?

First photo was the initial styling in July '13, second photo Dec '13, the next 2 photos are today, and last photo is from the left hand side to show the lean.

 

[Neli]

Looking good Jeremy.
It will be a lovely tree. You see that branch on the right on the last picture facing in the beginning where it starts downwards...it looks like a pocket branch. If you should bend the trunk to the left at that point it will no longer look like that, and your sections of the trunk will be diminishing in length.The lower one also looks like it is inside a curve.
Good luck! I shall be watching it with interest.
One more thing...Casuarina rots very fast...I would try to heal that Jin, and watch the wire...it bites in fast.

 

[Jeremy]

The lowest branch is on the straight section of trunk before the apex branch, no curves.
So far without treatment I havent had any rot, I have another Casuarina with one thin live vein which you have seen before. I will be treating with wood hardener and lime sulphur after I peel away at the jin.
Not sure what you mean by a pocket branch though?

Underneath the moss the base swells to 55mm and the height is 210mm

 

[Neli]

The lowest branch is on the straight section of trunk before the apex branch, no curves.
So far without treatment I havent had any rot, I have another Casuarina with one thin live vein which you have seen before. I will be treating with wood hardener and lime sulphur after I peel away at the jin.
Not sure what you mean by a pocket branch though?

Underneath the moss the base swells to 55mm and the height is 210mm

Pocket branch means inside a curve...like in a pocket.

 

[Jeremy]

Casuarina Glauca

This is my only other Casuarina species that is having any work done to it. I bought it as a 2m tall nursery stock tree, labelled Casuarina Glauca.
I initially chopped it down and it grew well, was trying to focus growth lower down and got lazy with rubbing buds so jinned a bit of the top. It then proceeded to die down the right/back side of the tree. Ive since styled it with one branch. The framework is getting there but its been hard trying to get this species to ramify. Unlike Torulosa, the 'needles' are quite thick and when plucked correctly doesnt always result in back budding.

This needs a lot of refining with the carving. Ive been applying wood hardener and will paint it with lime sulphur tomorrow. Not sure how long it will last as there are varying theories with Casuarina wood.

Perhaps the tree is too high and should be chopped back to start again?

 

[Neli]

If you put some wood hardeners ??? they coat the wood so applying LS is a bit pointless.
Grow the leader aand chop back hard just above the second left branch of the leader...Wire that branch and let it thicken together with the leader.
I have one of this also...one of mine in the ground died after a trunk chop.

 

[Jeremy]

Just a quick update on the original tree. I unwired, clipped back and rewired today. Should be able to get it into a bonsai pot this spring to work on controlling the growth. The next step is to remove the moss from the trunk and do something with that jin..

 

[KennedyMarx]

How do you shorten the needles? Do you have to cut them or will they reduce like a Japanese black pine? I like this one a lot. It has a very sparse demeanor.

 

[Jeremy]

The needles are essentially broken into tiny sections which are where dormant shoots will appear. If its a young needle you simply twist them off at the 3rd or 4th node. From that point you should get 2-4 shoots, only keep the 2 laterals. If they are closer to being lignified snip with scissors but take it to a further node to allow for die back.

You shouldnt experience dieback if you're twisting the needles at the right time.