Cara About the best I can suggest is repotting them into some fresh mix. If you get rain in autumn, now would be a good time to do this. I bought a Syzygium last year and repotted promptly as it was very pot-bound. I used a bonsai-type mix- very free-draining with 5mm grit, but with some added humus as I know they like a rich soil that holds moisture. If your mix has been drying out too quickly because the roots have filled the pot, or it lacks humus, then your plants won't be able to repel 'invaders'. Don't take too much of the root ball back. Leave about a third and take out the older brown roots, leaving the young white growing tips as much as possible. When you've done it, put it on either the south or east side of the house and keep it just moist for about a month. Dunk it about once a week, wait until the bubbles stop, and let it drain, not stand in water. After the first month has passed from when you repotted, you might want to give it a monthly liquid fertiliser feed. Miracle Gro has been pretty good for my plants. If they make growth over winter, check again in spring to see if the roots have colonised the pot. If they have, and you've got good top growth, too, pot on without disturbing either top or roots. If it's really booming - do another check next autumn. I've got a Coprosma that's only about 15cm high but grows furiously so it needs repotting twice a year. I'm not sure how fast your lilly pillies will grow, but keeping an eye on root growth is a prudent thing to do to keep pests away. And thorough watering.

Thought I would add our experience. In the week after Xmas 2010 ( temperatures in high 30s for the whole week) we decided to try and transplant 8 lilly pilly trees with trunks approx. 8 - 10cm thick, which had been kept pruned to about 2 metres in height and not sure of age. We didnt care if we ended up buying new plants but thought we would give it a go. We haphazardly pruned the trees back hard( one ended up with no leaves at all). We use a pick axe to dig a circle ( trench) out about 30cm all round from each trunk, soaked the soil with water and then used a pruning hack saw, pushing it down into the trench where ever we felt there was a thick root still holding on, then rocked tree back and forward until all roots snapped. The roots ended up shredded and totally bare of soil. The area we were moving them to was very dry with clay about 15cm down. We roughly broke up the clay in a circle just larger than the roots and added the only soil we had which was a sandy loam and some wetting crystals. We then stood the lilly pilly roots ontop of this and then mounded more sandy loam over the roots where ever they lay. We knew this would dry out too quickly so we used broken bark pieces (unused from wood pile) and piled this all over the sandy loam mound ( theory was to try and shade the sandy stuff). We installed a drip water system with a drip at base of each trunk ( We flatten the mound around the base of the trunk and pulled back the bark so water wouldnt just run straight off top of bark and down sides of mound). We watered the trees whenever we watered the vegies and every second day I sprayed the outside of the bark mounds ( theory - to keep them moist? ). We transplaned two murrayas ( spelling ?) at the same time in the same way. We decided to keep treating them like live plants until THEY showed us they were dead. Now... 1 month later, with more temps of over mid thirties ( even 40s) ALL of the plants have began showing new shoots up the branches with two even beginning to fruit again. The Murrayas showed new shoots within the first two weeks even though they were taken out last when we were totally fed up with trying to be NICE to the plants. As you can see... We didnt know what we were doing.. had no advice... and were not gentle. These trees just seem to live on and on. to anyone thinking about transplanting lilly pillies.. give it a go,.. you have nothing to lose.

I've never heard of any problem with them, Mishka. People can eat them, so I would imagine they'd be safe for dogs. They wouldn't contain any chocolate-like drug. Trish

As a rule all Acemna are psyllid free but only some of the Syzygiums, and most of the Austral varieties are affected although A. Resilience - resilient to psyllid - should be ok and is good to 3 or 4 metres so I've been told. Acmena Smithii is a spreading tree to around 5 metres perhaps a bit more. I am unfamiliar with A.S. Minor. Syz. Luehmannii is generally psyllid free and good for around 4 metres, maybe a bit more. You could also consider Photinea 'Red Robin', I have 3 of them in blocking the neighbours and they are around 6 metres plus after about 6 years. It is disease free, dense to about 3 metres wide with attractive reddish foliage. Hope that's of assistance.