The most embarrassing thing possible happened to me...

[Srt8madness]

Hopefully it will be ok. I’m not a fan of pond baskets, but the soil looks retentive enough.

If it makes you feel better, during the first intensive at Bjorn’s, I had this Shimpaku on that stand, and thought it might let down slowly when I turned the release. Instead, it dropped immediately to the floor, tree and all, and I caught it by the trunk as it was going off the backside. I would have been very upset to destroy that pot.
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And that's the real reason we wire trees to pots

 

[Srt8madness]

I used to have trees around my pool until I fell in with one of them.

Don't tell @namnhi that!

 

[Likebull1]

Came back from vacation today and was greeted with a wonderful surprise! Still going to baby it but I think I might be in the clear.

 

[Likebull1]

Thought I'd post another updates as fall is fastly approaching. I have really babied this maple by slowly ramping up feeding, light misting, and moving it from almost full shade back out to partial.
I'm really surprised how much the growth has exploded this year. I got lots of new branching and healthy growth.
Just gonna let it run wild for a while and see what the branching situation looks like once the leaves drop. It's definitely a mess under there.

The biggest thing that's bothering me now is the potting angle and I definitely need to top it off with some soil soon.