Japanese white pine (goyomatsu) on their own roots

[BonsaiNaga13]

This autumn I bought 6 Japanese white pine. 3 from Matt at KAEDE BONSAI-EN, 1 6 year old from Riverbend gardens, and 2 from an eBay seller. The 2 from the eBay seller look around 3 years old and are potted in a fairly moisture retaining mix. I'm assuming sphagnum and perlite. I plan to repot in spring and I was wondering if I should half bare root or being young seedlings if a full bare root would be fine.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Being very small, young would not bare root but take all soil sticking to roots and plant into 100% small pumice disturbing roots as little as possible. This should help quick reestablishment. Did exactly this when getting new Bristlecone pine seedlings with good results. However as one caveat most soil will likely fall off roots when removed from original pot. Half bare root for trees having solid soil/root mass not falling off but needing roots liberated from bad conditions.

 

[Shibui]

I've had no problem taking most of the soil off white pine roots up to 4 years old. In spring, just shake, comb out what will come off easily and transplant. In spring you can also trim long roots and rearrange nebari if required.
Retaining sphagnum soil when transplanting sounds like a quick way to cause root problems later.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

Here's the 6 year old tree from Riverbend gardens. I'm already liking the initial setup and branch placement and this one came in a pretty free draining soil (looks like mostly lava). My plans for this one is to just let it grow for now, maybe wire it out next autumn and maybe let the top run as a sacrifice and develope the lower branches as the tree.

 

[Bonsaiforlife]

Bareroot is fine for the young jwp in the spring they wont miss a beat. But I would protect from freezing temps after you do so as you would with anything you repot. Good luck

 

[yashu]

I got one of Wayne’s trees as well. This one has very short needles and tons of buds. The soil seems just fine so I saw no need to repot for at least this year and probably next.


Since I’m not messing with the roots this year I went ahead with some structural wiring and branch reduction. The trunk was very straight so I put some wiggles in there but the tree has a good habit of short internodes and needles and it seems to hang on to old needles for quite some time. I think these trees have a lot of promise.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

I got one of Wayne’s trees as well. This one has very short needles and tons of buds. The soil seems just fine so I saw no need to repot for at least this year and probably next.
View attachment 463814View attachment 463815

Since I’m not messing with the roots this year I went ahead with some structural wiring and branch reduction. The trunk was very straight so I put some wiggles in there but the tree has a good habit of short internodes and needles and it seems to hang on to old needles for quite some time. I think these trees have a lot of promise.

I'm tempted to buy his last one. I might decide to wire mine soon but there's a lot of design options and I haven't made a decision yet. The whorls aren't too congested and mine has a bit of movement in it already. Once I get some more whire I'll see what I can do. Do u know when they were last reported? I think mine could go another 2 years or so

 

[yashu]

I'm tempted to buy his last one. I might decide to wire mine soon but there's a lot of design options and I haven't made a decision yet. The whorls aren't too congested and mine has a bit of movement in it already. Once I get some more whire I'll see what I can do. Do u know when they were last reported? I think mine could go another 2 years or so

When I spoke to him I don’t recall him saying exactly when they were last repotted but he did say they could go another couple years in the plastic training pots without issue. He’s pretty accessible for questions if you call him, email can take a while.

I was concerned when I received my tree because there was some browning on the needle tips and I jumped to the conclusion of fungus so I contacted him asking if he thought I should pull the plant to check the roots. It turns out it was weather related due to the wacky summer we’ve had here in the northeast and he stated that the plants should be fine in that soil for some time still. I’ve purchased from Riverbend before and trust Wayne’s judgement and he stands behind his plants so my mind was at ease.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

These are the 3 I got from Matt. I potted their pots inside of teracota pots for stability and wired up the 2 stronger ones. They'll get repotted in spring once I find suitable pots.