Australian Native Seedlings

fozz

Hi folks,

After reading different posts about Australian natives, it got me to thinking about doing a few myself.

I had always been of the understanding that they were a real problem where root and branch pruning was concerned so had tended to stay away from them.

I can only say I was amazed at what FlyBri had accomplished with the natives he'd grow.

Anyway, I went down to the local native nursery and had a look through their stock in tubes. For those of you living in Melbourne, the name of the nursery is

Treeplanters Nursery Pty. Ltd.
530 Springvale Road, Springvale South, Vic 3172.
Tel: (03) 9546 9668

Their fresh stock tubes were $1.85 and at the time, a couple of weeks ago, had a very large range. After talking to one of the staff, I was told to have a look at their old tubes at the back of the nursery. These are all two to four years old and sell for 50 cents each, a bargain. I bought eight for the princely sum of $4.00 and brought them home to see just what I'd got myself into.

They were all pot bound to say the least. In most of them the lignotuber had filled the tube completely and it was necessary to cut the tube off. I then sread the roots out and cut the taproot off. This usually left me with four or five small roots around the outside of the lignotuber. I placed each seedling on a disc of plastic then planted them into a pot.

As these are completely new to me I will add to this post as things progress.

Ross.

Attached Images

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	Native 2.jpg (69.3 KB, 43 views)
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fozz

Here's a few more pics of the plant and disc and the tube stock.

Attached Images

	Native 4.jpg (68.9 KB, 39 views)
	Native 5.jpg (68.0 KB, 31 views)
	Native 6.jpg (65.8 KB, 29 views)

comrvf

another good place too look for native is places like landcare and council gardens (but i didn't say that)plus you can also try contacting your local EPA officer and they can guide you too the right place so you don't do any thing illegal

DavidN

Good luck fozz. Let us know how the trees go especially with the root pruning. I'll have to visit that nursery one day. Thanks.
David

__________________
Bonsai Northwest Inc, Melbourne, Australia

Bonsai Flora Nursery in Yarraville, Melbourne

stephenr

Fozz,
Glad to see you are attempting eucalypts and good luck with them.
Just a few comments to help. –
Eucalypts don’t like having their roots messed with to much so tread carefully.
Eucalypts will not tolerate having their branches bent lower than horizontal to the ground. They will shoot new sub-branches on the bent limb with a tendency to grow up, then direct sap flow to these new branches thus die back will occur on the horizontal branch.
Eucalypts have more than one growth cycle during the year and in most cases they go into a dormant state during mid-summer. This is a natural way of conserving moisture during the long hot summers here in Oz.

There is an article here at bT ‘Eucalypts as Bonsai’ moderated by Flybri that will be of great interest to you.

http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthread.php?t=9245

cheers,

__________________
"We grow by attempting that which is difficult, not what is easy"

fozz

Thanks conrvf for the info, wouldn't dream of doing anything illegal

David, the nursery is a must visit, the staff are very knowledgable.

Stephen, I read your comment in the article you posted the link to. I too was under all sorts of falsh impressions as to what could be done with eucalypts. Not lond after I got into this crazy hobby I asked about OZ natives and was basicly told "Natives!!!!!!!!!!!, oh noooooo, stay away from them, too hard, can't do this or that with them".

So, not knowing any better, I've done exactly that. Think what I could have now if I'd taken no notice of the "experts" and actually started on them back 20 plus years ago . Sometimes it pays to do your own thing so to speak and maybe break new ground.

Anyway, I'll keep adding to this as time goes by. Using FlyBri's experience should hopefully lead to positive outcomes.

taipan(deceased)

I heard a story about the Voodoo twins the other day...

See they get a LOT of flat tyres......

Especially near large old bottlebrushes with magnificent taper....

One jacks.....One digs....

FlyBri

Gday Fozz et al!

Good luck with your Eucs - I'm not familiar with the two species (cosmophylla and rossii?) but it looks like there's no new growth present, and they are in a state of dormancy. Keep an eye on the watering of these - mid-Winter in Melbourne can mean that your new trees will sit in constantly wet soil for months at a time. This combined with the dormancy of the Eucs is a certain recipe for root-rot and death.

Thanks for the info about the nursery - Springvale is a long way for me to travel, but if I was to venture down that way, it would give me an excuse to visit GardenWorld and Williams Nursery (home of Ted Poynton's collection of native trees).

Thanks.

Fly.

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fozz

Thanks for the info FliBri, the soil mix I make is pretty good for drainage but will keep a lookout. Let me know when you are down this way, wouldnt mind geting together and picking your brains so to speak on the natives and such.

I'm going down to the seedling nursery again today, going to pick up a couple of dozen more seedlings and see about a forest planting. Have a nearly three foot long pot just asking for something to be put into it