I just watch a video of a guy re-potting and root pruning a Japanese maple and a scotch pine. It looked like it was late winter/early spring. No buds on maple as yet. These trees were 10 years old and in grow pots. When re-potting he raked out the roots, washed the roots so the plant was now bare rooted, trimmed about 20-25% off of the roots, re-potted it and then did a little trimming off the top. I guess my question is about bare-rooting them and washing the roots off. I learned earlier on this forum not to ever do this when collecting trees...always leave some of the old soil in the area right under the trunk at least. Maybe it is different with collected trees and 10 year old stock? His trees had a good root system with lots of feeder roots and maybe that's the difference. But what about those micro organisms in the old soil that the tree needed? Maybe someone could enlighten me. Appreciate the help. Peter