Shimpaku question about first transplant

[crust]

My questions:

1. How much of the root ball can I just slice off before cleaning out the remaining roots?
2. How much can I reduce the foliage after slicing off the roots?
3. Is it too early to do this in central Georgia zone 8a? (we had 14 degrees a few weeks ago). I can protect the trees after transplanting.

1. You should prune and wire first, and transplant last; you really don't want to repot a tree, then jolt the roots around while you manipulate the top. If you plan to work aggressive on the top, go easy on the bottom...or vice-versa. you should be able to reduce the roots by about half, if it is healthy and done at the right time of year,

2. See above. This tree is young and small, so I'd try to keep extra foliage to keep it strong, especially if you reduce the roots.

3. You can prune and wire now, but it is FAR too early to transplant. You're around 75 miles south of me, and junipers are among the last trees I transplant. I'd definitely wait until mid-March.

edit: just saw you plan to put it back in the same pot, if that's the case, why reduce the roots so much? Comb out the old soil, replace with new, and the tree will grow stronger this year.

The premise of "You should prune and wire first, and transplant last" usually does not work out for me, although I know what the motives are to work in this order, nearly always, I find that the order of 1)getting a plant out of nursery soil and growing in a porous substrate(2) get plant very healthy and growing vigorously all the while not letting it over grow (sometimes rough cut and preliminary wire) (3) hard prune and extensive wire to style (4) transfer to finish pot. In the past I have been disappointed when I would try to primp a plant to sweetness while weak only to have it decimated during the soil to substrate transplant.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The premise of "You should prune and wire first, and transplant last" usually does not work out for me, although I know what the motives are to work in this order, nearly always, I find that the order of 1)getting a plant out of nursery soil and growing in a porous substrate(2) get plant very healthy and growing vigorously all the while not letting it over grow (sometimes rough cut and preliminary wire) (3) hard prune and extensive wire to style (4) transfer to finish pot. In the past I have been disappointed when I would try to primp a plant to sweetness while weak only to have it decimated during the soil to substrate transplant.

We're saying the same thing...If you include 1 year between your step 3 and 4...
Chicken or Egg.

 

[sean f]

i got a box of the keppler/boon/god mix, from weetree last spring and repotted everything i had with it.
mostly shimpakus and one japanese maple, even in the first season they all looked healthier and grew stronger
then they ever have. it took a little while to get my watering on track because it retains more water than my old turface based mix
i'm going to use it from now on

 

[FrankP999]

Frank, I'll show you how to do a "half bare root" repot on Monday.

Adair was at my house Monday; he did, in fact, show me how to do a "half bare root" on this shimpaku. We did the same on a couple of black pines plus a full bare root repot of a new kashima japanese maple. All are inside my house tonight with temps here to be around 21. Here is the maple.

 

[LanceMac10]

Shot of the Shimpaku....?

 

[Dav4]

Frank, the base of that Kashima is NICE! Glad to see Adair was able to help you out.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nice base indeed. You guys are starting awfully early.

 

[FrankP999]

Brian, Thanks. We started now because I bought the maple last week and it needed to be potted. It arrived without a pot with the rootball in a platstic bag. I am bringing it inside on freezing nights.

Dav4 Thanks! Hopefully this will be in the Atlanta club show in a year or three.

Lance, I didn't get pics of the shimpaku but here is the completed maple. We buried the nebari so it will develop over the next year.

 

[Adair M]

That was a lot of work. The tree had great nebari, but also had a lot of roots going straight down. It took a lot of root hook work to get up under the trunk, to cut those off. I tried to get under the trunk to cut it off flat as if it were an airlayer. I think we did pretty good.

I think Frank has a picture of the bottom of the trunk.

 

[FrankP999]

Here ya go Adair....

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Wow, Adair is a lot blurrier than I imagined.
He must be fast.

 

[Adair M]

Nah. I was drunk!

 

[Vance Wood]

Is that a Shimpaku Acerafolia?

 

[Dav4]

Nah. I was drunk!

Man, I wished you lived closer!

 

[FrankP999]

Adair is like greased lightening. Plus his black stealth gloves.....

We repotted that maple, the shimpaku, and three pines, had time for lunch, and even an interview with a public radio reporter. We don't mess around.

 

[Adair M]

Actually, it was very messy! We trashed your back porch, Frank!

 

[FrankP999]

Adair, I just told the Mrs. that the dog did it

Frank

 

[sorce]

Nice Maple!

Nice work guys!

A feelgood thread. Whew!

Sorce

 

[Vance Wood]

Still waiting for the pictures of the Shimpaku first repotting. I am not trying to be difficult but I am really interested to see how this was done in this case. I I keep hearing how this should be done and I am looking forward to the same visual evidence as with the Maple.

 

[FrankP999]

Vance, sorry to disappoint you but I did not take photographs of the shimpaku as we repotted it. You will just have to close your eyes and imagine Adair working on a shimpaku. Seriously, we cut off some of the bottom, then cleaned old soil off the weaker side of the remaining rootball. The original soil was a heavy peat/composted bark type of nursery soil, really wet. We used akadama/pumice/lava mix on the half that was bare rooted. I also pruned a small bit of the top to allow sunlight to reach the interior. To tease you, I do have some photos of a small pine we repotted. I will have to start a new thread for that one. Adair wanted to put it in a much smaller pot than I did. He wanted to run a poll here.

By the way, for those who do not know, I am an owner of one of the patented Vance Wood hand-made wooden "pond basket" style containers. Vance was "pond basket" before "pond basket" was cool.....Bought mine years and years ago from the man himself, it is finally giving up the ghost this year. Wonder if I could use a scrap in a display as "Vance Wood drift wood"?

I am sure Adair will add his comments about the shimpaku. Really, it is pre-pre-pre bonsai, nothin special. The maple and the shohin pine were the best trees of the day I think. I will take a photograph of the repotted shimpaku later today just for you.

Frank