Leatherback Growing Australian Natives [from seed]!?

[leatherback]

Last year I was able to get some seeds from Australian natives, e.g., Casuarina spp (Australian Pines), Eucalyptus spp (Wattle) , Callistemon spp (Bottlebrush).
I found these seeds a few weeks ago and decided to plant them.

Needless to say.. I now have a few small trays with seedlings sitting about and I am unsure how to proceed with these.
It feels like these species are prone to create deep roots fast, and clipping the main roots as young plants might be beneficial, similar to what one would do with european Oaks.

Anybody have experience growing members of these families, and particularly starting them off .. please share.

 

[RJG2]

Paging @Ryceman3

 

[Shibui]

All the Casuarinas I have worked with form well ramified roots if they are able. Many are natural residents of wet areas so do not need the very long, searching roots common to dry area species. I've had no problems chopping Casuarina roots, even chopping very hard, especially as seedlings or younger plants.

Callistemon is a large and diverse genus. I believe they have recently been included in the even larger Melaleuca genus. Like many diverse families there are differences between species. The eastern, mostly river loving species seem to have no problem with root reduction or hard pruning. Many will bud when chopped down to a small stump. A few species have not been quite so bonsai friendly and have not budded when chopped to bare wood or have died when root pruned hard, even as 2-3 year old plants. Best bet is to start root work early to maintain plenty of feeder roots close to the trunk. Knowing which species you are growing will probably help with advice.

Eucalyptus are NOT known as wattles. 'Wattle' usually refers to members of the Acacia genus. Eucalyptus are generally referred to as 'gums' but it is also a very big and diverse family from small, multi stemmed 'Mallee' types through to some of the tallest flowering plants in the world.
I know some growers who manage very good bonsai Eucalyptus but Eucs have always caused difficulties for me when subjected to bonsai practices. I can help with general growing tips but can't offer much help with bonsai techniques for Eucalyptus. Again, knowing which species you are growing will help with specific info.

 

[Lorax7]

This won’t be of use for early development, but for later stages of development you may want to look at some of the videos from the 9th World Bonsai Convention that are on YouTube, as it was held in Australia. Just search for WBFF and bonsai and you’ll find them. Lots of great examples of these species in those videos

 

[Ryceman3]

I had a quick look for you and here are a couple of images showing initial root reduction on some Melaleuca for a reference.
I would treat the Callistemon and the Casuarina in a similar manner to this.
I don't have any experience with Eucalyptus specifically, but on the whole root reduction on young seedlings seems to be tolerated better than when older, so I would experiment with a few reduced to this stage, and maybe a slightly less aggressive prune on some others to compare later.

Note : My experience with the Aussie native species I grow are they are predominantly very thirsty as bonsai. I put this down to the fact their main natural method of maintaining water (tap roots) is not available in bonsai culture.
This is not a problem as such, a very easy solution is to give them a tray of water to sit in, particularly over summer.

Anyhow ... hope this gives you a start. Nice to hear some natives from down here have made it up there!!


This is the size where I started root work. Note the amount of roots out of the bottom. These were propagated from seed using the bog method ... so have been in a tray of water from the outset. I think this method is pretty common so won't go into detail unless you wanna know specifics.

Cut the roots back to here. It's a lot I know, but that is how extreme you can go. This root prune was done in early Autumn, my time (March). My conditions are probably quite different to yours though, so I'll let you interpret accordingly.

Into individual pots and into a tray of water. They will not tolerate this reduction without a tray of water afterwards. You can almost watch them droop in real time otherwise. I didn't reduce the foliage mass at all.
Shady position for a few weeks and then they can go back to a more sunny spot to continue growing.