casuarina or not ?

hello again, sorry for the long absence but i had to go back to the uk for 6 months. first thing i did when i got back home <thailand > was visit my local bonsai trader and bought a new tree, he has just bought a batch of trees in from malasia . the problem here is thais dont use latin names for trees only their local names . the local name for casuarina is son but that covers all needled trees so a pine or juniper is called son . he pointed to a normal casuarina and said same family . but these have differant bark and very small " needles" < dont all jump up and down saying you need a photo i,ll post one as soon as possible> . so if any of our malasian members can tell me anything about this species it would be appreciated . john

Hi John.

maybe it's beckea.

regards,
jun

hi jun, thanks for reply but i,v never heard of beckea either , i googled it and nothing came up. i,v not brought the tree home yet because they are newly collected and the one i picked has no needles yet but i,v looked at some of the others and the growth looks exactly like casuarina but very very small . i am going back sunday so will take the camera and post a picture . good to hear from you hope you are well, regards john

John search here at ibc, malaysian international show. Regards, jun

hi jun, yes thats it. and i,v since found out that the thais call it son sai and sai means sand and on roberts pics it says it grows in sand near the sea. send me any information you have please .thanks jun . ps is it any relative of casuarina

Hi john. It is not at all related to casuarina. When I was in Malaysia they said it is difficult and more sentitive than casuarina and Phempis. It can be styled in a very natural style as you can see from my photis on that thread. Leaves are so fine, but be aware of diebacks. Regads, jun

You like dealing with deadwoods right? This is the tree for you. One of the very few tropicals that tolerate deadwood.

hi jun, thanks , i was that excited when i saw the photos i,v been back and bought another , what worries me a little is the trader has planted them all in cocopeat < because its cheap > whereas i think volcanic stone like robert sells would be better, i would value your opinion on this . i was right about why they call it son sai the original soil around the root ball is sand . regards john

John,

Mixture of volcanic stones and river sand will do.
If you can afford more I suggest you get as much as you could. They are quite expensive now in Malaysia because of high demand. And like phempis, good quality materials would run out soon.


regards,
jun

thanks jun, i will get more but i,v picked the best 2 , some are sold already and the rest are boring. i,ll find out if and when he will get more, they are only $40 each. the makita,s on stand by ha ha . regards john

hi jun , one last question, is beckea the local malaysian name, and if so do you know the latin name . regards john