Callistemon Care

[Woocash]

I’ve been keen on getting one of these oddities (round these parts anyway) for a while and today I found one at a small nursery near my Mum’s place. It’s a Callistemon Viminalis ‘Captain Cook’. It’s a really interesting species, but I know very little about it really so could anybody please give me either links to a decent care guide for my location or offer advice on timings for things such as repotting and pruning, trunk chops etc?

I have read that midsummer is a good time for repotting and root work which led to some sort of debate with my Mother as to whether midsummer has now passed. Would any of you southern hemispherical folk still deem early February as suitable, for example? Also, could I then trunk chop or is it too late for all and I should just wait, observe and enjoy til next year? I have also read that they like it dryish, but how do they cope in a more moist climate? Would extra free draining soil be of benefit?

I know that’s a lot of questions, but I’d like to do right by the plant - especially as I got it for quite a reasonable price and you don’t see them every day. Thanks guys.

It’s in a 10 litre pot and stands about a metre from the soil.


Trunk is around 5cm at the base, don’t know what the nebari is like, but it’s been in the pot for a good few years now I reckon

 

[Starfox]

Now is a great time to do any work on them, even in a UK climate you should have plenty of time before it gets too cold so if anything you want to do then do it now.
Can you get it out of the pot to check the roots?
Mostly I find nursery Callistemon to be badly pot bound so that normally needs sorting and will take a couple of repots at least.

If you can show a pic of the roots out of the pot that would be handy but if it is pot bound what I do that seems to work is saw the bottom third off, try and loosen the roots, maybe shave the sides a bit and whack it in a slightly wider pot. I pot it in some Sanicat, orchid bark and lava rock and leave for a year. The next repot you can be a bit more aggressive with the roots.
You can absolutely cut back and do trunk chops at the same time so if you do all this now then don't touch it until it warms up next year.
You can probably do trimming and cut backs from Spring to Autumn as long as night temps are reasonably high but leave it alone over winter.
They actually like water and it is important not to let them get too dry over summer but again with the UK climate winter may be the biggest issue.

So personally I'd repot into bonsai soil now and chop it back, you should get plenty of back budding if it's healthy which will give you more options but I've learnt to be more conservative on the first major working. Some may say you can do more but I think the slower option offers better tree health in the long run and if you are overly cautious then just do your cut backs and trunk chops and worry about the roots next summer.

I'm sure there are others that can add and ausbonsai.com would be the place to get it from the horses mouth so to speak, that is probably the best resource on them but many of the posters there are here too/

 

[Woocash]

Now is a great time to do any work on them, even in a UK climate you should have plenty of time before it gets too cold so if anything you want to do then do it now.
Can you get it out of the pot to check the roots?
Mostly I find nursery Callistemon to be badly pot bound so that normally needs sorting and will take a couple of repots at least.

If you can show a pic of the roots out of the pot that would be handy but if it is pot bound what I do that seems to work is saw the bottom third off, try and loosen the roots, maybe shave the sides a bit and whack it in a slightly wider pot. I pot it in some Sanicat, orchid bark and lava rock and leave for a year. The next repot you can be a bit more aggressive with the roots.
You can absolutely cut back and do trunk chops at the same time so if you do all this now then don't touch it until it warms up next year.
You can probably do trimming and cut backs from Spring to Autumn as long as night temps are reasonably high but leave it alone over winter.
They actually like water and it is important not to let them get too dry over summer but again with the UK climate winter may be the biggest issue.

So personally I'd repot into bonsai soil now and chop it back, you should get plenty of back budding if it's healthy which will give you more options but I've learnt to be more conservative on the first major working. Some may say you can do more but I think the slower option offers better tree health in the long run and if you are overly cautious then just do your cut backs and trunk chops and worry about the roots next summer.

I'm sure there are others that can add and ausbonsai.com would be the place to get it from the horses mouth so to speak, that is probably the best resource on them but many of the posters there are here too/

Awesome! Thank you very much for this. Seems they must be pretty forgiving then. That’s a good sign! I’ve not actually looked at the rootball at all yet, but I imagine it will be pretty root bound. Would you dig down any to expose the nebari and see what‘s cooking at the same time?

I imagine they’re better as bonsai on the larger side so how quick do they thicken their trunks in the ground? This one is already an ok size but the chunky monkeys seem to be more effective from what I’ve seen. Are there any varieties to be on the look out for to achieve max growth?

Tomorrow I’ll have a play around and see what I end up with. Though there’s a lot of growth which seems a shame to be wasting so I am half tempted to air layer a section off first. Is it too late in the season for that if I decide to go down that route? Cheers.

 

[Shibui]

Some of our experienced callistemon growers and collectors in warmer areas advise root pruning any time of year but it gets just a tad too cool at my place so root pruning is any time from mid spring through to autumn for me.
Some species can tolerate drier conditions but most are streamside trees and really like plenty of water. I have kept some in a tub of water to see just how tolerant they are. 18 months with the pot almost submerged before the species I used started to look sad but it took off when I took it out of the water. It should cope very well with your damper climate. Extra free draining soil probably not required and could even be detrimental as they do like moisture.
Most species will sprout all over the trunk, including very old wood, after hard pruning so it should be OK to cut hard. Does not seem to matter when but the response is far quicker in spring and summer.

Most have tangled roots because they are just slip potted up into progressively larger pots as they grow. Most species I have tried are very tolerant of root pruning so you can cut roots fearlessly in warm weather.
C. viminalis is one of the quicker growing species and should bulk up in a couple of years in the ground. Sort out the roots first though. Small tangled roots just grow into larger, more tangled roots that have fused together and are impossible to sort out after a couple of years in the ground.
Now should be fine to check the surface roots, even if you have to remove a few to do so.
Callistemon are pretty easy from cuttings if you want to propagate some more. Layers well too and there's probably still time for a layer this season.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I love these trees! Thank you for sharing.. keep it updated!

 

[Woocash]

Some of our experienced callistemon growers and collectors in warmer areas advise root pruning any time of year but it gets just a tad too cool at my place so root pruning is any time from mid spring through to autumn for me.
Some species can tolerate drier conditions but most are streamside trees and really like plenty of water. I have kept some in a tub of water to see just how tolerant they are. 18 months with the pot almost submerged before the species I used started to look sad but it took off when I took it out of the water. It should cope very well with your damper climate. Extra free draining soil probably not required and could even be detrimental as they do like moisture.
Most species will sprout all over the trunk, including very old wood, after hard pruning so it should be OK to cut hard. Does not seem to matter when but the response is far quicker in spring and summer.

Most have tangled roots because they are just slip potted up into progressively larger pots as they grow. Most species I have tried are very tolerant of root pruning so you can cut roots fearlessly in warm weather.
C. viminalis is one of the quicker growing species and should bulk up in a couple of years in the ground. Sort out the roots first though. Small tangled roots just grow into larger, more tangled roots that have fused together and are impossible to sort out after a couple of years in the ground.
Now should be fine to check the surface roots, even if you have to remove a few to do so.
Callistemon are pretty easy from cuttings if you want to propagate some more. Layers well too and there's probably still time for a layer this season.

Brilliant, thanks very much. This just seems like such a great species. It’s so different from anything we have over here so there’s lots of year round interest. I gave it a bit of a chop and I’m quite happy with the overall shape now. I may have to shorten the thick branch half way up further though.



You weren’t kidding about the roots. I dug down a bit and actually removed very few from the trunk in finding the roots that I have, but I’m not sure if these are even the best ones or if there are more, better ones than those I‘ve uncovered. Lots cross over and there’s a huge lump of a root right next to the trunk but I’m not sure where it actually joins the trunk itself. Currently one side of the nebari sits a couple of inches higher that the other, but I’m not sure whether to remove the high side to try and find better roots below or just embrace it.


There’s also roots which have wrapped round the trunk and fused with it and then crisscross all over the shop. I‘m quite unsure how to deal with them, whether I should cut most of them off and start the nebari from scratch, removing half this year and the rest next year or whatnot or just tinker with what’s there, removing the most troublesome roots now and leaving the rest to form a better flare. I’ve currently stuck it back in a pot and just mulched it in for now so I can get back to it tomorrow. Any help would be definitely well received! Thanks.

 

[Shibui]

I would not stress too much about nebari for callistemon. They are not one of the trees that develops classic spreading surface roots so while it does look good you can always use the excuse of 'natural style'
The problem with removing thick surface roots is that the trunk generally is thinner below those strong roots so removing them gives reverse taper. Once roots get that bad it is probably quicker, easier and more effective to ground layer and grow a whole new root system at the angle and height you want and you will have total control over root placement and distribution.
See how it copes with the current work and maybe sort a few more out next time.

 

[Woocash]

I would not stress too much about nebari for callistemon. They are not one of the trees that develops classic spreading surface roots so while it does look good you can always use the excuse of 'natural style'
The problem with removing thick surface roots is that the trunk generally is thinner below those strong roots so removing them gives reverse taper. Once roots get that bad it is probably quicker, easier and more effective to ground layer and grow a whole new root system at the angle and height you want and you will have total control over root placement and distribution.
See how it copes with the current work and maybe sort a few more out next time.

Thank you. A bit of perspective is just what I needed. I think I’ll take your above advice and put it in the ground for a couple of years, thicken the trunk then ground layer when the time is right. It’s definitely worth taking my time with this one as they’re pretty rare round this neck of the woods.