First nursery stock of the year..

Starfox

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I don't know. I was kind of thinking two is one too many. lol

I thinned the first one out a bit, it kept falling over in the pot but at least now I can see what there is to work with on it. Not going to touch it until I repot it which will probably be this month sometime. The potting mix is only there to replace some of the soil that kept falling out when it was tipping, it will be gone soon.
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And these are the trunks of the two Leptos from today that I am keeping for myself.

IMG_20180304_170822563.jpgIMG_20180304_170839027.jpg
 

Starfox

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How’d these turn out?

So far not dead, when I went to plant out the ones for the garden this is what I found in the pots.....

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That is a very compacted mass of roots which kind of made a mockery of my plan to tease them out as it was so dense. In the end I took one of them and I sawed off the bottom maybe quarter of the roots and shaved the sides down a bit so I could fit some fresh soil mix back in the pot and crossed my fingers. After a couple of weeks it still looked good so I did the same to a second one, maybe slightly harsher but not much and if that one is still good in a week or so I will do the third too.
I did start thinning the foliage out as well but stopped short of being overly selective, if they stay healthy I will continue that later in our season. I think it will be a long process of reducing the roots but at least may be able to get a head start on styling.

I really like the trunk of the first one. Flowing nicely, very elegant. Good luck!

Yeah it has it's charm, basically I just reduced enough foliage to get a better look at the trunks and existing branch structure, it's still somewhat a mess but when it stops raining I'll try and get a pic of them. I think all 3 will have a different style to them which is nice to play with.
 

Vance Wood

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Was this root mass as dry as it looks?
 

Starfox

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I wouldn't say so really, there was a distinct difference between the root mass and the dry roots coming from the pots drainage holes. That said it is clear water would have trouble penetrating that mass.
 

Daluke

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I have very little experience with Leptospermums and have recently made a few small purchases. It seems from speaking with a few other enthusiasts that some cultivars are pretty picky with root pruning. Some guys even prune the roots under water. Please keep us posted.
 

Starfox

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Yep, and it seems that these scopariums are the really finnicky ones which is why I'm going real slow. I had the hose with me when I repotted them and gave them a few soaks. I figure it may take many years to get it in a bonsai pot but each root prune will remove more. Still if I can keep them alive I will be happy and gladly post the good or the bad. So far so good.
 

Starfox

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Proof of life!

These seem like they almost enjoyed the trimmings. All 3 had the bottom and sides of the root mass shaved off with fresh soil to fill the gaps. In retrospect maybe I could of been a bit less tentative with the root reduction but given the literature on them I was quite cautious.

This was also the reason I panicked on the pruning and stopped where I did but at least it revealed the nice trunks and they are rewarding me with a lovely floral display and even pushing new growth.

My plan is to leave them be and maybe prune back some more in autumn.

The two I planted in the ground look to be dying.

IMG_20180421_115639704.jpg
 

Starfox

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So an update again for those interested.

In contrast to the red ones the pink ones had not a great deal of roots in the pot so I took one of them and cut maybe a third of the roots and a bit more washed out and got it into a smaller pot. 2 weeks later it hasn't responded all that well, I absolutely will not be repotting the other two pink ones this year. I think the one I root chopped may live but there has been some die back. Touch and go.

To me, and it is only an educated guess is the roots were probably not developed enough and they can't provide enough energy for the foliage after cutting. I get the feeling that had I thinned out the foliage at the same time like I did with the red ones it would be dead by now. Hopefully it will pull through but if not I have another two which are currently flowering their nut off.

After flowering they will all get thinned out some more, I think that will be safe to do. I can see getting these into bonsai containers may be a slow process over a number of repots.

Also the juniper from the OP is still fine, I have wired it, which I hate what I have done but hey-ho. There is a thread somewhere with that as my not a contest tree
 
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