Dawn Redwood Rooting?

[SalvatoreAAmico]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post on Bonsai Nut, but I have around 30 bonsai and have been working with them for approximately five years. I recently went on vacation for six days, and to keep my plants alive, I placed them in a circle with two sprinklers in the middle. All my bonsai are in fast-draining soil; with how hot it's been in my area recently (North Shore Area, Massachusetts), I sent the watering controller to water daily at 6 AM and 6 PM for 20 minutes to ensure saturation. I got back yesterday, and all the plants look great, some even better than when I was watering manually! I noticed my Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) appears to be rooted above the soil near the bottom. I wondered if anyone had seen anything like this and if I should try to protect these roots with something similar to an air layer with a cage of sphagnum moss. Below I'll post pictures of 1 the Dawn Redwood, 2 the alleged rooting, and 3 a Chinese Elm I got at a garden center I'm air layering to attempt to make a clump-style bonsai.

Regards,

Sal


Figure 1. Dawn Redwood


Figure 2. Dawn Redwood "Rooting"


Figure 3. Seiju Chinese Elm with Air Layer in Progress

 

[Rivian]

I experienced something like this last year. We had unusually rainy weather and a long, old grapevine started rooting into the air, maybe up to 8cm long roots and in a number of spots. On the underside of a couple meter long horizontal vine. I think old bark that is sufficiently wet for a while can be misinterpreted as soil?
Your nebari seems fine, I dont really see a reason to let it root up higher

My Seiju airlayer failed recently, I think they might grow better from cuttings. Maybe take some as well?

 

[Shibui]

Lots of species will spontaneously produce roots if there's enough moisture or humidity. I get aerial roots on shimpaku juniper if the canopy is dense and water sufficient. Apples are another species that produces aerial roots.
Whether to keep the new roots depends on:
1. whether the existing root system is adequate.
2. How far the 1st branch is from existing roots.

From the pics it appears that existing roots are good and lower branches are adequate so I can't see any point in taking time to set up a new root later.

 

[sorce]

Nice.

Welcome to Crazy!

I been dunk watering out of a bin to conserve water through the recent drought. Everything been dry in a day.

One long rain shower and everything is wet 2 days later.

20 minutes is the golden ticket IMO.

There is absolutely nothing like a persistent pouring for penetration.

Sorce