New Procumbens

[IIIROYIII]

I haven't really started to think of a pot yet. I figured if i didn't find anything I liked I would talk to dale cochoy, because i'm a big fan of his pots.

Which brings up another question. Does anyone think I should go directly to a bonsai pot from the current nursery container? Or should I be more conservative and reduce the roots over a few years?


Christopher

 

[TheSteve]

That would depend on the amount of roots it has now vs the intended pot.

 

[IIIROYIII]

The pot it is in now (3 gallon nursery) Is full of roots. has roots coming out of the bottom holes, and when i tore down a section of the pot all you see are roots, hardly any soil.

 

[TheSteve]

It's getting late enough now you may not want to be too radical. I'd cleanup the roots now and get it into some good soil then in a year or two go to the bonsai pot.

 

[IIIROYIII]

I wasn't planning on doing anything with the roots this year. As healthy as the tree was before the cut back it should be fine in what its in until this fall or next spring. My intentions are to take it slow, and reduce the roots gradually over a few years. I just forgot to ask Kathy how far I should reduce the roots initially.

 

[kytombonsai]

Watch your watering, be careful not to over water. Sometimes when you remove a lot of foilage and leave the roots alone it can take a long time to dry out and before you know it the foilage is yellowing and the tree dies before you can do anything about it. You have messed with the balance of foilage and roots. When I am working with nursery stock junipers and remove 1/2 to 2/3 of the foilage I have had the best success when I remove about 1/2 the roots at the same time. I just pull it out of the pot and take a sharp knife and cut 1/2 the root ball off. Add a couple inch layer of new soil and drop it back in. Procumbens are very tough junipers and can usually handle both styling and root work at the same time.

Tom

 

[cquinn]

I wasn't planning on doing anything with the roots this year. As healthy as the tree was before the cut back it should be fine in what its in until this fall or next spring. My intentions are to take it slow, and reduce the roots gradually over a few years. I just forgot to ask Kathy how far I should reduce the roots initially.

I'm betting you got this one from Steve Cratty. If that's the case you can feel comfortable taking at least half of the root mass. I did mine (actually 3/4) and they loved it when they went into good soil. Don't just cut the bottom of the rootball off though. Start at the top. If you did get this from Steve then it is probably about 25-30 years old, which means there's probably a better base under there.

 

[IIIROYIII]

Yes its from steve cratty. I was thinking between 40-50% removal. I don't know about a better base though. In the first picture you can see there is quite a nebari already exposed. The mix it's currently in drains very very well. and I tore a straight line down the nursery pot so i can monitor the moisture, (the top section dries out very quickly.)

 

[cquinn]

Yes its from steve cratty. I was thinking between 40-50% removal. I don't know about a better base though. In the first picture you can see there is quite a nebari already exposed. The mix it's currently in drains very very well. and I tore a straight line down the nursery pot so i can monitor the moisture, (the top section dries out very quickly.)

I wouldn't know without seeing it first hand, but the ones I got had thick spreading bases about two to three inches down. I had to cut of alot of roots to get down to them, but they were there. That's your call The moisture you will need to worry about will be at the core of the root ball (it won't dry there).

 

[IIIROYIII]

here is a shot of the nebari

and a pic in slightly better light

 

[cquinn]

That's nice, go ahead and cut that crossing root now since you aren't going to cut any others this year. You may fine that the base I was talking about will hinder you from using a shallow bonsai pot. If this happens, I would just slowly chip away at it over the years.