Hinoki Cypress Post Helene

[kdoobs]

I am new to bonsai and need some advice. I was gifted this hinoki cypress several years ago and recently decided to give it a go as a bonsai. I thinned out some of the fans in early summer, but I was waiting to repot until spring. It had been in a large pot with whatever soil it came in and was happy for several years, so I assumed it was okay to leave things alone. However Helene came through and a large tree and part of our house fell onto the pot and this little tree. It was only slightly damaged, but I had to dig it out of the pot so we could work around the area.

The only pot I had at the time was just a plastic garden pot that I hadn't gotten around to throwing out, so that became it's new home. I had some peat moss and general conifer soil, so I made a crude mix of those and the soil from it's old pot and moved it to the plastic garden center pot. My question is this, what do I do now!? I had to come up with a quick fix for the time, but now I'm afraid to mess with it too much. I'm not really sure the best path forward? Is it okay to leave it in the pot and soil it's currently in? I don't know if I can repot it again at this point? Any help would be appreciated!


The little tree poking out



As it stands currently

Thank you so much!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hi and Welcome Aboard Bonsai Nut!

Ugh! Looks like you made the best out of a bad situation. Hinoki can be very resilient, so would leave the tree as is, except for adding a tad more media to cover the nebari, for the winter.

Likely one could keep it in this media, depending upon the composition of the media and your location, neither of which wasn’t fully described, for another year. Yet at some point it would be best to shift to a wholly inorganic media.

To better help us help you, please describe the rough percentage composition of the media. (% conifer mix contents and % peat moss contents).

Also please enter your approximate location and USDA Plant Hardiness Zone on your profile. To do so click your icon atop the page, then Account Details. Then scroll down, enter these data and save. These data will appear on your icon and allow us to help your better,

Welcome Aboard once again and Good save!

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[kdoobs]

Thank you! I am in Zone 8a and updated my profile - thanks for the heads up.

I didn't have time to mess with the root ball when I moved it, so I carefully lifted it out of the previous pot, left the entire root ball + previous potting soil in a clump and tucked a 50/50 conifer and peat moss mix (previously mixed in a different container) around the root ball and previous potting soil. I'm not actually sure if the roots are even interacting with the new media bc it was mostly surrounding the root ball? I think that in total the pot currently contains 1/3 conifer mix + 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 original potting soil.

I hope that makes some sense!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good. The only issue is the differences between the old and new media. If one is drier, then the tree can have big issues.

So what was the original potting soil. If it was originally in nursery mix the core can retain more moisture. If organic mix in the core, the core will be drier.

If there is a marked difference, best to go ahead and repot in spring.

Cheers
DSD Serbs