Juniper Id

[Japonicus]

It is not running yet,

I have to recant that statement.
The Itoigawa is running semi healthy runners. More to go yet so I am feeling better about potting it down somewhat now.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Coming right along!
Yes the soil looks repellant. As for the sphagnum I would wait till the weather dictates.
Expecting hotter temps this year I'm assuming, but I'd wait.
If I were seeing runners, I would say repot now, but I am not.
My Kishu's are running up here already. I have an Itoigawa that is in bad need of potting.
I got it at the Nationals last year and the soil is absolutely terribly piss poor.
It is not running yet, and I have my doubts that it will ever run if it stays in the soil that it is.

Additionally the 2 lowest branches are becoming a bit more confusing with the recent shortening.
I would still leave it on, taking nothing off before you repot. Nothing more than underneath cleanup
of branches. In particular the yellowing shoot.
If the foliage is exposed to sunlight, leave it till after recovery from repotting.

Good advice all around. Thank you @Japonicus ! For whatever reason the water was soaking in a little better yesterday. Maybe I just rough up the surface and then wait for shoots to do a full repot as you suggest.

 

[Japonicus]

Good advice all around. Thank you @Japonicus ! For whatever reason the water was soaking in a little better yesterday. Maybe I just rough up the surface and then wait for shoots to do a full repot as you suggest.

Depends on the root health and the depth of that pot, possible soil issues down below surface.
Also depends on plans for the next pot like what pot and when.
Will you have a couple of other options if the rootwork can't fit desired pot?...but I was going to say if you had to postpone potting, you could use a round tent spike like nail with plastic hooked collar to plunge through the soil methodically but repeatedly to aerate the soil. Won't hurt to slip it out and run a root hook in a few spots to see what it says it needs. Could just be surface and shin breakdown of field soil congested and the rest ok or not. Look under the hood

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I see buds just starting to move and we are past the last freeze. But, it did have some work done over the winter with the cut and style. I have a next pot picked out that is wider and shallower, at about the same volume? I do have a larger fallback pot if I want to give it some room to run.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I opted for the conservative approach of breaking up the surface soil, scraping it off and drilling a few air holes around the perimeter with a very stiff piece of wire. I washed the surface too and let the water soak through a few times and covered lighly with long grain spaghnum and course aggregate (Erie sifted sand). Next year I may attack the Shin if it is doing well, but I think I improved the flow a good bit.. and, I’ll stick to chem fertilizer for a while. Weak orchid MSU(?) mix from @Leo in N E Illinois