Page 60 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2015Q2

Top to bottom; The Discovery
Air layering a thick casuarina in It was around 1985 when bonsai lovers from East
the forest Java discovered a jungle of Casuarina equisetifolia in
Air layering on a thick Casua-
rina in a pot. Lombang, a sea side area in East Madura. Madura is a
Newly harvested casuarinas small island in the east of Java. The condition in that
under the shade cloth to island is hot and dry. The people over there were most-
reduce sunlight while they are ly poor and used the casuarina for fire wood, cutting
recovering. branches from the upper part of the living tree. This
Casuarina sited in full sunlight resulted in a lot of new shoots. Over and over people
and allowed to grow wild so cut them down, making them very beautiful in shape.
that branches will thicken to
the appropriate proportions Growing wild in such a condition over many years
before they are trimmed to the made the shape of the plants extraordinarily beautiful
correct length. as bonsai material.
When people first harvested them from the wild to
grow them as bonsai, they used normal bonsai pot-
ting mix that consisted of sand, humus and soil to
grow them. Thousands of them died. Later on people
found out that to grow a Casuarina from the wild, we
have to use pure sand. We also have to cut off most of
the leaves, then place the plants under shade or net to
reduce the sunlight and spray the trunk and bonsai
mix several times a day with water. Expect the tree to
drop its needles because Casuarina is in fact a decidu-
ous tree. Later on when it gets stronger you can move
it to a more open area.
Growing Wild Casuarina
Casuarina can also be easily propagated by air-lay-
ering. It can be done on a tree in the ground or a tree
in the pot. It will usually take some two months to get
the roots before the new plant can be cut off from the
mother plant and potted.
Casuarina loves sun and wind, so place it in an
open space with a lot of sun and air circulation. In
conditions with less wind or less sun, the tree will be
weak. Tiny bugs will easily come and kill some of the
branches and eventually the tree itself will die.
The correct bonsai mix is very important thing to
consider. Casuarina equisetifolia grows near the sea
side. It needs sand and good drainage. In Indonesia
we usually use volcanic sand, around 80%, and humus,
around 20%, on established trees. This tree also toler-
ate some soil, but it is better not to use it in a bonsai
container. Anyhow, if there is no volcanic sand, we can
use normal river sand mixed with humus. We usually
add “Furadan,” an insecticide to kill any nematodes
in the mix.
Organic fertilizer is better for Casuarina. Watering
solution made with cow or goat manure will be very
good especially if the bonsai is already mature and we
want to make the needles thicker and greener. Some
salt water will also be tolerated by the plant and it will
be good for the growth of the tree. Though it is only
needed once in a while.
Insecticide is a must for Casuarina equisetifolia.
Spraying insecticide must be done regularly at least
once every two weeks. There are two main enemies of
the Casuarina bonsai. The first is the white bugs that
are so tiny, so that they just looked like powder. They
will stay on the leaves, so that the tree will gradually

58 | BCI | April/May/June 2015