Creating a Flat Root Base

[lieuz]

I've seen a lot of people on youtube and tutorials who plant their trees in planters, not pots, with a disk or some sort of flat surface during repottings to encourage a flatter bottom and more radial root growth. Is this an acceptable technique? Only reason why I ask is, won't it disrupt root growth? And aren't there more effective ways to achieve the same results?

 

[sorce]

I've thought of that too.

It is only temporary. To me, you really only need to start the roots radially. A year? Then remove it and just keep clipping the downward growing roots.

Just my thoughts.

Sorce

 

[johng]

you are just redirecting roots as they grow...not limiting root growth...not a problem and very accepted practice.

 

[klosi]

Will this also create a possible better nebari with young trees and airlayers? Or is this completly other thing?

 

[johng]

Will this also create a possible better nebari with young trees and airlayers? Or is this completly other thing?

yes..creating a better rootbase is the main reason for doing this...

 

[Alain]

Hi there,
I saw a thread in a French bonsai forum about the visit of a Japanese master who was showing an old (and little forgotten) traditional Japanese method.
He screwed the tree to a piece of plywood (the tree is cut so the screw is in the middle of the trunk) and then with a bunch of nails he positioned the roots (he didn't nail the roots, he just put them in position and then nailed around to maintain them like that). Then he put some bands of drainage mesh around the plywood (in order to make like a box with drainage) and put that in the ground for one year.

I kinda of use an adaptation of this technique. When I put my trees in training pots I frequently fix them on a piece of wood in order to get the roots grow flat.

 

[whfarro]

This is a very well known and common practice. Many variations, wood, tile, shallow box ..all to achieve nicer and more manageable roots. One such process is diagrammed out and explained in detail in the book "Bonsai with Japanese Maples" by Peter Adams. This is more of a combo ground layer / root development process.

I just wire my cuttings after a year or two of growth to a tile and place them into pond baskets to develop and grow.

I think this works out nicely and is worth giving a try.

 

[markyscott]

I've seen a lot of people on youtube and tutorials who plant their trees in planters, not pots, with a disk or some sort of flat surface during repottings to encourage a flatter bottom and more radial root growth. Is this an acceptable technique? Only reason why I ask is, won't it disrupt root growth? And aren't there more effective ways to achieve the same results?

I do this fairly often.

http://www.bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/ebihara-maples.18215/#post-245530

Scott

 

[M. Frary]

Does anyone check out Smokes blog? He goes through this from top to bottom. I believe he puts this stuff on here from time to time if memory serves me right. Good stuff.
I like how he....well I don't want to ruin it for anybody.

 

[Eric Group]

Hi there,
I saw a thread in a French bonsai forum about the visit of a Japanese master who was showing an old (and little forgotten) traditional Japanese method.
He screwed the tree to a piece of plywood (the tree is cut so the screw is in the middle of the trunk) and then with a bunch of nails he positioned the roots (he didn't nail the roots, he just put them in position and then nailed around to maintain them like that). Then he put some bands of drainage mesh around the plywood (in order to make like a box with drainage) and put that in the ground for one year.

I kinda of use an adaptation of this technique. When I put my trees in training pots I frequently fix them on a piece of wood in order to get the roots grow flat.

I know people who drill them to boards like that.. I don't really see the need normally to use nails and stuff to position roots...

I have used wood, plastic, tiles, flat river stones for small seedlings/ cuttings... I don't generally need to screw them down. The trees can push themselves up a bit sometimes, but it isn't like they are trying to run away or something! Screwing them down always seemed so extreme to me I guess.

 

[Alain]

The trunk of the tree was cut flat (an air layered of something) so screwing in the middle works perfectly in that case.
And the nails are just to guides the roots, they weren't in the roots. Like that you could do the pattern you want with the roots (I never did it myself).

 

[markyscott]

The purpose is to attempt to replicate one of the techniques of this man:

http://bonsaitonight.com/2009/02/14/ebihara/

As I understand his method, the root base is cut flat and screwed to the board to eliminate downward growing roots that tend to push the tree off the board and promote instead outward growing roots. The purpose of the nails are to guide the root growth radial to the trunk. He would spend a lot of time individually positioning each root. His results speak for themselves - he has grown some of the best maples in Japan, all in pots. None of his trees were field grown.

After two years of growing on a board, I'm quite happy with the results so far. I had virtually no downward growing root growth. I wish I had spent more time thus repot balancing and positioning the root growth, but I have several trees on boards now so I'll have another chance next spring. If mine turn out 1/2 as good as his, I'll be quite happy.

Scott

 

[lieuz]

Wow, this is really an eye opener for me. These examples are quite helpful. I've seen someone use a CD before, haha silly CDs finally have a use for them now.

 

[Adair M]

The CD thing is different... A small seedling is stuck thru the hole in the CD. When the trunk fattens it bulges at the CD, and sprouts radial roots. After a while, the old roots are cut off at the CD, and you are left with radial roots above the CD.

You can also use washers for this.