Gday Stephen, and congratulations on being the proud owner of the 100th post in this thread!I have not really done anything with this tree since the previous picture was taken. I think I pruned out the growing tips once early on in the piece, but the majority of the ramification and leaf reduction has come about naturally. Don't ask me why...

While I'm here, I thought I should share the development of my oldest River Red Gum. I've let it grow a little wild, and probably should have been trimming the thing to get some further ramification. I guess the upside of the unrestricted growth is that the trunk is now approaching a whopping 45mm wide at the soil line, and its bark is becoming fairly mature (see closeup pic).

With the weather we've had of late - not to mention water restrictions - I've been forced to dunk the pot every day - it's usually dry within 24 hours. This leads me to believe that a severe prune and gentle repot is in order very soon. I'll keep y'all posted.

Thanks.

Fly.

Attached Images

	River_Red_1206.jpg (73.1 KB, 90 views)
	River_Red_1206_Closeup.jpg (70.3 KB, 66 views)

I know it is a challange but does anyone have expirience with this?

anyone in Europe, Portugal or anywhere?

Best regards,

Tiago

I have not attempted collecting any of the eucalyptus species from the wild here in Oz as yet, but based on my experience with nursery stock, you must be very careful, they are very root sensitive. I have lost a few eucalypts by attempting to remove just a small portion of their roots, primarily the tap and larger secondary roots leaving the bulk of the root structure in place and they still turned up their toes and died.
I would suggest that you will need to take a long term view/plan on collecting these species from the wild…

look at this http://www.bonsaifarm.tv/content/view/24/37/

An informative articale. I was surprised and honoured to see my tree mentioned by Walter Pall.

Gday Peter, and welcome to bonsaiTALK!

I assume that you mean this tree:




I'm honoured that the owner/trainer of such a tree would visit my article/blog thingy. I'd be even more honoured if you were to share the history of this great Euc, either here, or - even better - in a bonsaiTALK article of your own.

Thanks.

Fly.

Yes please, me as well...

RIP - Snow Gum

Farewell my friend. Hopefully you are now enjoying the otherside, and the person that tends you waters you better than me. If you get the chance please send me a signal, if I watered you too much or not enough.

soda

Classified - empty pot, free to good home.

I submited an article on the history of the nicholii but have not seen it posted as yet.

Peppermint Gum

Eucalyptus nicholii


Found at south Canberra Dump in the Revolve section in the summer of 1995. It was in very little soil and full of disease. ( mealy bug and sooty mildew ). Only being new to Bonsai, I thought that if this plant could survive these conditions it had potential, and being a native it was my opportunity to experiment with the horticulture and structure.

Over the following months I removed the pests and when it showed signs of new growth I re-potted, cut back the old wood and trained a new leader.

In 1999 I potted it into a Bonsai pot ( oval blue ceramic ). Then in 2001 I drilled a hole from where the new leader was formed, to the base, where I opened up another hole making it hollow. As seen in the only early photo I could find. At ( http://asgap.org.au/bonsai/apabN_Gallery_2a.pdf )

In late October 2003 I repotted the Nicholii into a oval unglazed pot and in December of the same year I removed some of the ruff bark to reveal a dead section of the trunk. I then cut this piece out creating another hole in the trunk as seen in the 2003 attached photo.

To make it a fully Australian work of art I repotted the tree into a “ Pat Kennedy” pot in October 2005 as seen on the ANBG web site. It was entered into the BCI competition in 2006 and received an Honourable mention. The following photos are a pictorial history of the development of this tree. The last photo is the most recent ( today ) and shows some changes due to hail damage.

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	PeterH_E.nicholii_2006.jpg (72.9 KB, 61 views)
	PeterH_E.nicholii_2007_2.jpg (62.5 KB, 90 views)