My Maple.. again.. Acer P

How did you get on pal?

Rob_phillips said:

How did you get on pal?

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Kinda' feels like waiting to see how your son's first date went....and/or dreading to hear the details of your daughter's........

Right?

Lol!
I didn't get to today. It's still on the table! Had a lot of family round today, it's my birthday on Monday (also my bonsai birthday too), so I ran out of day light and now people are currently using the dining table to eat.
Personally I don't mind kicking them out for my trees, but my mum reckons that's "inappropriate" so, tomorrow morning the repotting will be done.
I didn't know so many people were waiting on it! So much pressure now lol.
Anyone want to give me some advice on any particular signs of root health to look for?
I've read, blackened, mushy, all round unhealthy and discoloured roots are signs of problems. Anything else?

If there slightly rotten you will smell them first. But i doubt that they will be as you water correctly and you purchased the tree from graham potter who probably used his soil mix which is a good mix.
Take some pics and post them.
I will have my phone on and receive notifications on watched threads so can reply straight away and maybe give you some advice i have limited experience as far as time goes but i have repotted many trees and plants in my time.

I'll get plenty of pics and make sure I post a few, half way through repotting. Thanks for your help mate

ConorDash said:

using the dining table to eat.

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Bloody Wankers!

I agree you'd small em....

And....

I reckon a Maple would have to have been in some kinda such shit soil with no drainage and may a even kept on a stove burner to have rotted roots in that soil....

And I don't see Graham wasting time with such material.

No way you got root rot IMO.

Sorce

Whatever you use, tweezers/ wooden chopstick/root rake to work the roots...comb slowly, black roots will go away without noticing it.
I also expect some "forgotten" old soil. I'll be online tomorrow too...

sorce said:

Bloody Wankers!

I agree you'd small em....

And....

I reckon a Maple would have to have been in some kinda such shit soil with no drainage and may a even kept on a stove burner to have rotted roots in that soil....

And I don't see Graham wasting time with such material.

No way you got root rot IMO.

Sorce

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Oh I agree. I have trust in Graham and his mix. The buds all look healthy, within the next month if they are all survive opening and staying healthy, I'll know the health issue is gone and I can finally start working on the trees future. Just good to discount any issues in the roots, so I know .

petegreg said:

Whatever you use, tweezers/ wooden chopstick/root rake to work the roots...comb slowly, black roots will go away without noticing it.
I also expect some "forgotten" old soil. I'll be online tomorrow too...

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I use a rake mostly, and yes I take my time, do it right. The near the end, I'd use a water jet to wash out the remaining soil that I can't get to. Not too powerful to damage, just to break up any old soil and get it out. It'll go in to an all inorganic mix tomorrow, same as all my other trees are in. Good to know I'll have a few people on waiting for my results tomorrow lol. No pressure

Not pot bound but still needed repotting for other reasons.

Some white powdery substance on the inside of the pot. Not sure what that is. It's not going back in the same pot.

It looks fine to me just make sure you get the new soil right into the rootball. The white stufc could be just residue from water and feeding

Do you live in a hard water area

You can shorten those long roots hanging down by half. Did you find anything wrong in the pot?

First pic shows your problem, you think your watering "bonsai mix", when, in fact, your watering potting soil. Maples will grow in it just fine, but your watering becomes a lot different.
Any new root growth you had was drowning before it could establish itself. That's why your leaves went to funk as soon as they emerged, too much water.

Don't think your getting the best soil when you buy a tree from a "bonsai nursery". Soil and ferts are a HUGE expense, your kidding yourself if you think material like this has been dotted upon.

That's where you come in.....

LanceMac10 said:

First pic shows your problem, you think your watering "bonsai mix", when, in fact, your watering potting soil. Maples will grow in it just fine, but your watering becomes a lot different.
Any new root growth you had was drowning before it could establish itself. That's why your leaves went to funk as soon as they emerged, too much water.

Don't think your getting the best soil when you buy a tree from a "bonsai nursery". Soil and ferts are a HUGE expense, your kidding yourself if you think material like this has been dotted upon.

That's where you come in.....

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Yeah, that soil is too dark and the particles too fine...I wanted to hear it from Conor!

Rob_phillips said:

It looks fine to me just make sure you get the new soil right into the rootball. The white stufc could be just residue from water and feeding

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Rob_phillips said:

Do you live in a hard water area

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Apparently my area is "hard to very hard" water area. So yes, definitely.

LanceMac10 said:

First pic shows your problem, you think your watering "bonsai mix", when, in fact, your watering potting soil. Maples will grow in it just fine, but your watering becomes a lot different.
Any new root growth you had was drowning before it could establish itself. That's why your leaves went to funk as soon as they emerged, too much water.

Don't think your getting the best soil when you buy a tree from a "bonsai nursery". Soil and ferts are a HUGE expense, your kidding yourself if you think material like this has been dotted upon.

That's where you come in.....

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When you say "dotted upon", I'm not sure what that means?
I've always known this is more soil than substrate but it should still be a good mix, it is from Kaizen, potted by Graham Potter.
As far as I knew, this was the mix used: http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/premium-bonsai-compost-no2-new-improved-formula
I do trust the mix he uses, given his and the shop's reputation but I do personally prefer my litter/DE 100% inorganic mix, which it is now in. The website doesn't list exactly what is in the mix, and I don't like the idea of potting my trees in something when I don't know EXACTLY what is it in and to what ratio. The pictures of the mix seem all inorganic and organic bark, but in person it had more "soil" type of composure, which as you said @LanceMac10 is not good.
Right at the beginning when I first got it, I believe my watering schedule with it was not good, but I soon learned differently from opinions on this forum. So from then on, I waited a good long time for it to get dry enough to water. Not too dry, but not moist either.

So do you think this was the route of the long standing issue? Too much water retention, essentially?
When you say dotted, do you mean, "to dote upon something, to worship, treat with great respect" sort of thing?
Thanks for your info .

One thing I didn't do, which I have done on all repotting so far is wash it out with a jet of water... Kind of forgot, somehow. Although I am very confident it has no remaining soil in it, I was very thorough.

petegreg said:

Yeah, that soil is too dark and the particles too fine...I wanted to hear it from Conor!

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This is from the above link: "All of our soil mixes incorporate some fines, this should NOT be sieved out, doing so will impair the performance of the product.".
Im not sure how to feel about that sentence... Personally, as far as I have learnt, fine particles are bad. I've never heard someone say they are good. What do you think of this?

Honestly....

That looks way more fucked up than I ever expected.

Good news...

It's gonna love you for hooking it up in some new fresh soil!

No doubt!

Welcome to Watering feller.

You'll note a world of difference!

Cheers!

Sorce

LanceMac10 said:

potting soil.

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Hardly!

At least now we know maples can survive at least a short while in used motor oil.

Sorce

sorce said:

Hardly!

At least now we know maples can survive at least a short while in used motor oil.

Sorce

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LOL. Is it really that bad of soil? Im surprised it is seen as so terrible. This is the mix being used widely by Kaizen and sold to others. Please do tell me whats so bad, so I can learn more .
As far as I can see, its not ideal...