European beech repot

Forestcat

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I need to repot my European beech, so today I took it out of its pot and discovered that quite thick roots are circulating the outside of the root ball. They are too thick to pry apart. I'm considering either repotting it in Akadama as is or cutting a few of the thicker roots so that eventually I get better root distribution. Any help you can give me would be appreciated.
 

Gabler

Masterpiece
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I need to repot my European beech, so today I took it out of its pot and discovered that quite thick roots are circulating the outside of the root ball. They are too thick to pry apart. I'm considering either repotting it in Akadama as is or cutting a few of the thicker roots so that eventually I get better root distribution. Any help you can give me would be appreciated.

Generally, doing root work early in a tree's development is better than waiting, but the tree needs to be healthy enough to recover. How was the tree growing last year? Do you have any pictures of the tree then and now? Is it in a bonsai pot or a nursery container?
 

Forestcat

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I went ahead and repotted it. I tried to tease apart as much of the root mass as I could, but wasn't very successful. I did cut some of the larger roots at the point where they made their 90 degree turns. I put it into a slightly deeper rectangular pot that was about an inch bigger all around. This will be a lesson to me to repot trees as soon as feasible after getting them, as you never know what is under the surface.
 
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