Well the deed is done. Buds were definitely swelling so I did a full repot combing things out all the way to the base of the trunk. There were fine white root tips as well so I think things are ok, but the different strata of soils were definitely causing imbalances in moisture levels from one part of the rootball to another. The “nebari” is kaka but oh well.
I will say I hate repotting pines! The roots are so delicate and stringy and those white tips never survive regardless of how careful you are. Once things are cleaned out everything just hangs there looking limp and hopeless. Ugh.
I only trimmed back the extremely long runners and dead roots. The original soil was a good mix of organics and turface so I remixed that half and half with new soil for the repot. Unfortunately I didn’t expect the rootball to be as small as it was and was not ready with an appropriate bonsai pot. It went into a smaller and shallower training pot instead.
So we’ll see. It seemed healthy enough to survive the procedure, if I didn’t over do it.
So, the way I read it is you did a full bare root repot? Not a half?
By the way, let’s review what a HBR is:
You start off as if it were a regular repot. That is, you start on the bottom. Scrape along the bottom with the 3 pronged forked thingy. Keeping the bottom flat. As you scrape, try not to dig into the bottom of the rootball, just keep it as flat as can be. Once you’ve loosened a lot of old soil, shear off whatever is sticking out of the bottom. Watch out for tie-in wires! Don’t dull your scissors. You will cut off a lot of roots, white tips and all. Pay particular attention to heavy roots sticking straight down. Cut them off flat. You may have to do several iterations if this to get your rootball to the height you want. If ithus is the first potting from the typical nursery can, don’t bother with the scraping, just cut away about half of the old root ball! Use a saw if you have to.
The idea is to get the bottom is the rootball as flat and as smooth as possible. No fine hair roots, or any roots for that matter, should stick out of the bottom. Why? Well, if no roots stick out, they’re less likely to grow into the new soil. We DONT want new roots yo grow from the bottom. We want new roots to grow radially, off the sides.
Now set the tree down on the table on the flat bottom. We now will address the top and sides if the root ball. That’s right, up to this point, only the bottom had been worked.
Take your bent tip tweezers and drag them across the surface of the root ball from up near the trunk straight out towards the edge of the rootball. It’s easierst if it’s on a turn table. Scrape from base of trunk straight out to the edge of the rootball. Sometimes you’ll have to apply a bit of pressure. As you get close to the edge of the rootball,tou’n Like find circling roots that can be pulled away from the rootball. Try as you scrape away to create a bit of a slope on the top of the rootball with the slope running down from trunk to edge.
Go all the way arond the trunk, loosening old soil, straightening out crossing roots, removing dead ones, etc. You should have a rootball with some long dangly roots hanging off the edges. Now take sharp scissors and cut those long dangly roots off, leaving about 1/2 inch sticking out. The edge of the rootball should be fuzzy with little roots all around. (Unlike the bottom, which should be smooth.)
That’s a normal repot!
Now, here’s the HBR part! If you want to do a HBR, choose which half you want to bare root. I recommend to do the weakest half. So get the bent tip tweezers again or if the root ball is really dense grab a root hook, and start loosening more soil from your chosen half. Try to get all the way up under the trunk if you can. Using water can help wash off or soften a dense core. Just be sure NOT to get the “keeper” half wet. Just wash the weak side. Work until you get all the old soil out of the old rootball on one side.
Now pot the tree in a pre prepared pot. Be absolutely sure to affix the tree into the pot so it doesn’t move at all! Backfill with good bonsai soil. Use chopsticks carefully to get new soil in the voided area. Also make survthe little fuzzy roots on the non bare root side are in contact with the new soil. After you backfill and chopstick, carefully give the pot a thump or two with the meat of your fist. That helps settle the soil. Make sure the soil is flat on the surface, and not mounded up. There should be about 1/4 inch of inside lip of the pot exposed.
Now water until the water runs clear. If it’s a Conifer, set it outside in the sun and try not to move it for three weeks while new roots grow out.
I suggest you go to
www.bonsaiboon.com and obtain his pine repotting DVD. Or stream it. It’s very reasonable to stream.
. The HBR may be the safest root to go. However if the conditions are really poor on both sides and in the centre then leaving the tree in those conditions is very risky as well. It is a judgement call on the actual tree. How many dead roots, how much compacted old soil, areas with no roots etc. It makes no sense to leave compacted soil with dead roots and no growth for a longer period of time in hopes of improvement.
