Post 38 Camphor Laurel

There are a couple of indusputables about the camphor laurel tree. One is that as a mature tree there are few its equal as a beautiful majestic tree. The second is that there is no doubt about it's toxic invasiveness in the southern Queensland and northern NSW environment. It was introduced here from China, Taiwan, Japan in the early 1800s and many people will be familiar with its use in the old days for building clothes chests. The camphor oils in the timber are an inbuilt insect killer.

I have been aware of a couple in my back yard that have sprung up presumably from bird droppings. They have taken off and it's time for them to go. But they do make a beautiful tree, so why not experiment with a half way house through a bonsai experience for them. They are classified as a class 3 weed in Queensland, along with the Celtis and the Privet so I think I'm not offending any laws by growing them in a pot. Control by landholders is not mandatory, you just can't 'supply' it.  Class 2 weeds can't be supplied or kept.

I cut the first one back over 2 years ago never thinking about recovering it. But then some months ago after it had reshot substantially, I cut it again and pulled it out and replanted it in the ground where I can keep an eye on it. The extraction was quite a job. It had a tap root that was about 100mm in diameter and went straight down.

With spring here the stump has shot very well with many more still coming so it has survived easily. I'll probably leave it there for a year before I top and tail it again.
 

This was what I chainsawed off the bottom. You can see the tap root that supported it.

And this is the second of the two.  Like the first one it has been a multiple seed germination and the seedlings have now fused into a simgle trunk mass. At this point it's about 750MM high. It was about 3 meters high but I've cut that off, sealed the cuts and trimmed the roots all 'round. It now has small shoots coming out all over and in a couple of months will be a mass of foliage.
I'll force the shoots back down the trunks cut the tap root and then let it stay here a little longer. It should make a spectacular bonsai in 10 years - I'll just have to give it a different name!!

I'm looking forward to making pots for them.