ironwood/casaurinas

Ravi Kiran wrote:Hi Jun,

Great trees as always.... My envy for you has already reached new heights in this year and thanks for sharing a proper, unmasked mugshot of yourself. From your earlier pics I thought you looked much older and bulkier. See it helps to post proper images of not only your trees but also your self

On a more serious note you had said something like
"today...got the right side branch i needed, when the front and one of the back branch got longer. since I changed the diet of my casuarina I got almost double growth speed."

Wanted to know what you feed your casuarinas to get this miracle growth.

Ravi

Thanks Ravi.

Don't envy me... yet, just getting warmed up for the year. hehehe!

with the feeding- lot of people here told me not to fertilized the casuarinas often, others say 2 times a year feeding is more than enough, "just water jun otherwise you'll kill the tree"...but like the usual me I don't follow the norms.
I gradually increase the volume of my feeds from 1 time a month with complete fertilizer to now weekly liquid natural fertilizer (fish, kelp, guano and molasses) plus 2 times a week fish emulsion. then water a lot to flush out excess fertilizer, I guess the plant knows what to take and eat only what they need.

shhh...let's keep this a secret.
regards,
jun

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:Hey Jun,

new year and new standards. Will be watching you more and speaking less. I have been down the collected tree path with the guys on this side, so I am immune to trunks and the effects of nature. Will be looking to see if you come close to what Rob has suggested, naturally in your own style.

Man is that a serious face, no laugh lines ?
How's your blood pressure ?

Word of caution, I know how to present myself on a forum, been doing so for about 12 years, but I tend to laugh a lot, and play with child-like curiosity.
Back to re-potting.
Second house coming on-line as well.
Contentment to you.
Khaimraj

What's wrong with my monalisa smile people???

have you seen a china figurine plant/penjing accent smiling? I'm just an accent for scale to the plant...bonsai is about tree anyway and rarely about man.

regards jun

It doesn't look like the Jun we have come to read and like
Khaimraj

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:It doesn't look like the Jun we have come to read and like
Khaimraj

...like my trees, I am a man with many different faces.

regards,
jun

hi jun, interesting topic, i,v managed to get a casaurina with a good trunk from my 2 collectors<,$10> here.its my first so i was interested in what you say about soil and repoting etc. my thai friends tell me they are hard to grow and many die . but thais use cocopeat because its cheap and you say only sand, but do you mean sand or what we call gravel < aquarium type gravel> the tree i got had the original soil around the rootball and i,v planted it in a over large training pot with gravel , and its growing very fast , but sooner or later its got to go into a smaller pot so any more advice you can share would be appreciated . our rain season is july to sept . regards john

john5555leonard wrote:hi jun, interesting topic, i,v managed to get a casaurina with a good trunk from my 2 collectors<,$10> here.its my first so i was interested in what you say about soil and repoting etc. my thai friends tell me they are hard to grow and many die . but thais use cocopeat because its cheap and you say only sand, but do you mean sand or what we call gravel < aquarium type gravel> the tree i got had the original soil around the rootball and i,v planted it in a over large training pot with gravel , and its growing very fast , but sooner or later its got to go into a smaller pot so any more advice you can share would be appreciated . our rain season is july to sept . regards john

Hi John. It's nice to hear that you finally got casuarina for your collection...and at a very very very low cost.

Your Thai friend is absolutely correct...this tropical specie is the hardest to grow (for the first few months) here even in the tropics, even much harder than Pemphis acidula, but once the tree got the roots and about a year old in a training/growing pot it will grow very fast with very little problem at all, I re-wire my tree every other month, unlike maintaining Phempis acidula.
As for the sand, I use sifted river sand, coco peat holds lot of water, better watch out for root rot, it will not drain well.
Planting the yamadori with the original soil is the most effective way of reestablishing the health of the gathered tree. Repot after the rainy season, when summer is about to come,that's the best time to do root and branch works.
Don't feed with fertilizer yet. the original soil will feed the tree for a while. In your first repot don't remove all the original soil, on your second repot you can remove everything.

good luck John, you won't miss your pines in the west with this tree.

regards,
jun

Hello again Jun. Can I ask why you choose to tie your trees to the pots with rope or string, as opposed to wiring them into the pots?

jun wrote: ... ... the tired but happy owner (Jun) for scale.
... ...

So now we have made your figurative acquaintance, Jun.
As I can recall this has been asked by some IBC members in the past!

will baddeley wrote:Hello again Jun. Can I ask why you choose to tie your trees to the pots with rope or string, as opposed to wiring them into the pots?

Hi Will,
I use ropes to trees with big trunks with shallower roots to maximize stability. It is more stable than wires and won't hurt the bark.
I got very bad experience with wires during a strong typhoon here.

regards,
jun

my nellie wrote:

jun wrote: ... ... the tired but happy owner (Jun) for scale.
... ...

So now we have made your figurative acquaintance, Jun.
As I can recall this has been asked by some IBC members in the past!

Thank you Alexandra...and I am wondering why is it important for Ravi and others to see my face? I am more into trees than into exposing my face to the public.
Even here locally, very few enthusiast knew me...I'm a shy type. hehehe

regards,
jun

hi jun..

im new here in ibc and feel very lucky to find this site, im from bicol and have a few agoho ..just 6 months to 1 year old (in the pot).and really dont know what to do with my bonsai in terms of pruning and pinching etc... im really looking for someone that can teach me how to to develope this trees... can i somehow pay a visit in your place?

tnx for sharing !!!

wishing you well


bonsaihunt

bonsaihunt wrote: hi jun..

im new here in ibc and feel very lucky to find this site, im from bicol and have a few agoho ..just 6 months to 1 year old (in the pot).and really dont know what to do with my bonsai in terms of pruning and pinching etc... im really looking for someone that can teach me how to to develope this trees... can i somehow pay a visit in your place?

tnx for sharing !!!

wishing you well


bonsaihunt

Welcome to IBC.
indeed you are lucky to be part of IBC, you will learn a lot from here. please post your agoho/ Casuarina so that the good people here can give you advice. If you are lucky enough some will provide nice virtuals for your future design.

You can visit my garden anytime, It's now open for other people.
Send me thru PM your mobile number, or email me at ecllaga@gmail.com

regards,
jun