Field Grown Juniper Confusion

[Cable]

Here’s what I do:
https://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/south-dakota-collecting-trip-day-4/
And the results:
https://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/collected-rocky-mountain-junipers-repotting/

That's exactly what Ryan Neil talked about in one of his videos. He said to keep the shin (roots directly below the trunk) intact in the original soil and the put bonsai soil all around. The roots grow into the good soil for a few years and then when you go to repot the old soil just falls away and you grow a new shin. He recommends mounding bonsai soil in the new box/pot where the void is.

 

[Potsofgreen]

Nothing I would ever recommend to anybody trying to collect trees.
You've already cut some root tips off. Probably a lot.
Treat the ones you have left like they are gold.
That field soil you are "brushing" off I keep. It has all of the beneficial fungus the tree needs for recovery of the roots you cut off. And the tips you've now exposed need someplace familiar to grow into.
I actually collect extra field soil and surround the roots of the trees I collect(conifers that is)
It's pure sand here. And they stay in that for 2 years or more.

That’s why I said it’s variety dependent In my first post, if we saved all that excess field soil here in California with Cali juniper we would get root rot period, no matter how much pumice we used, your way my work for Rocky Mountain juniper or common juniper but not every juniper or conifer for that matter can be treated the same...I never said get rid of all the field soil there is still plenty left to inoculate my mix ? and I even save some that I sprinkle over the top of the pumice after I’m filled up in the container that I then water into the whole thing to further inoculate and spread those bennies ? I used to grow maaaad flowers buddy I know the benefits of keeping my micro herd

 

[one_bonsai]

The roots grow into the good soil for a few years and then when you go to repot the old soil just falls away….

Isn't this effectively bare-rooting the plant?

 

[Cable]

Isn't this effectively bare-rooting the plant?

Not really. So, one reason for not bare rooting junipers is to keep the mycorrhiza intact. Remove all the soil and you remove most of the mycorrhiza and it has to regrow, potentially harming the plant. If you keep the shin intact and put into a pot large enough to fill the rest with bonsai soil, as the roots grow into the bonsai soil the mycorrhiza will follow. Then, when you repot and the old soil in the shin falls away (supposedly because the roots in this portion died from lack of nutrients) there will still be the mycorrhiza in the outer rim of soil which can then recolonize the shin as it regrows.

That's the theory anyway.

 

[one_bonsai]

If you keep the shin intact....

What is the shin?

 

[Cable]

That's exactly what Ryan Neil talked about in one of his videos. He said to keep the shin (roots directly below the trunk) intact in the original soil and the put bonsai soil all around. The roots grow into the good soil for a few years and then when you go to repot the old soil just falls away and you grow a new shin. He recommends mounding bonsai soil in the new box/pot where the void is.