Repotting nursery stock

[Charlo]

I have 3 JM from Mr Maple. They arrived late Fall so I have not seen them with leaves. BTW they are in one gallon containers. At this time the buds are swelling so I am wondering if I should change out the soil or leave them for a year or 2? I would appreciate recommendations.

 

[Piedmont Bonsai]

You can get pretty aggressive repotting at this stage. And now is the time to do it. You can bare root and change out the soil and get aggressive with reducing heavy roots. Just try to keep plenty of fine feeder roots.
if you do this make sure to protect them below 40 degrees F

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

I have 3 JM from Mr Maple. They arrived late Fall so I have not seen them with leaves. BTW they are in one gallon containers. At this time the buds are swelling so I am wondering if I should change out the soil or leave them for a year or 2? I would appreciate recommendations.

I have 6 or 7 of these myself. Since they are two year grafts and probably won't make finished bonsai trees, I put them in my growing beds (100 gallon Rubbermaid livestock water tanks filled with soil and compost) to let them get large enough to air layer and take cuttings. From my experience buying maples for years from Mr Maple, the fall trees have been in their pots for six months longer than the spring trees, which are advertised as being newly repotted. I sink mine in the grow bed during the winter in their pots.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Greetings!

This depends on the goal for each tree. If it’s to grow out, one might pull these out of the pot, chop the taproots, spread the roots and put in shallow wider containers with your desired media for a couple years. Be careful not to bury deeper than the root line… which may be deeper than at present.

Work the top hamper during this time.

After 2-3 years of growth, change the media and continue working the roots every 2-3 years. Might want to use Ebihara method. See this thread…for some ideas.

Note: Would recommend growing the trees out without really hard work as shown on the roots for a 1-2 years for 1 gallon size trees to acclimatize to your location.

If the goal is to air layer over the graft, would keep as is and do the layer once the leaves harden off. In this case one might trim the top hamper only to stop errant growth… as the trees will need to have strong foliage to airlayer best. Again acclimating is always a good idea.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[River's Edge]

I have 3 JM from Mr Maple. They arrived late Fall so I have not seen them with leaves. BTW they are in one gallon containers. At this time the buds are swelling so I am wondering if I should change out the soil or leave them for a year or 2? I would appreciate recommendations.

The best course of action depends on the answer to two key questions.
1. What is the condition of the current root system?
2. What is your plan of development?
I would recommend repotting at this time to become aware of the roots condition and adapt it to suit your plan for development. Also because I believe the first course of action for newly acquired material is to become familiar with the stage of development, particularly the root system before moving forward. And this is the best time to address that.
If grow out is the plan you are wise to improve the container size and shape as well as spread out the roots with limited reduction. ( assuming air layer is down the road in the developmental plan) This also give you the opportunity to select the soil mix best suited for your goals and climate right from the outset.

* full disclosure, This is a personal bias. I do not like to work on material without first becoming aware of the condition of the root structure and its stage of development. All other plans wait until I am comfortable with that knowledge.

 

[Shibui]

Agree with the above. I'd repot but not to change the soil. Nebari is an important aspect of maple bonsai and it is easier and much more effective to make any changes required at this early stage than to do it later.
Getting your trees into a known potting mix is an added bonus to me.