Half bare root repotting pines?

[bwaynef]

I did a halfbareroot repot of a shimpaku at Boon's last week by myself. It took me ...25 minutes? Somewhere in that ballpark. The guy advocating top-down repotting said it took him a lot longer than that if I'm remembering right, though I'm not remembering specifics. I want to say it might've been 2 hours or so.

(That said, I think there's some merit there, but I can't quite figure out HOW to do it AND keep a firm rootball. Maybe that accounts for the extra time.)

 

[MrBonsai19]

Here is a dwarf alberta spruce I am trying out the top-down HBR method on... its a practice tree so not to worried about how it responds but I really like the concept of being able to make the full transition after 2 repots. The first repot to tease out the native soil in the top half, the second repot to simply cut off the bottom half. I know it's more relevant for pines but I don't have any pines yet.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I think mine is pretty self explanatory since I live in western North Carolina.

 

[August44]

The same way you repot the left half or the front half. You replace bad soil with good. The only thing I find puzzling is how you would keep the top from drying out without the bottom getting soggy. I don't know if the method would work for all types of field soil.

That top before bottom schedule does not seem right to me at all. I just see a wreck waiting to happen, and more so with certain soils like you said and certain trees. Left or right side makes more sense with less liability. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Gabler]

That top before bottom schedule does not seem right to me at all. I just see a wreck waiting to happen, and more so with certain soils like you said and certain trees. Left or right side makes more sense with less liability. Just my opinion of course.

I don't advocate for or against it. It's just something I've seen.