First aerial root questions.

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

The aerial root landed a few weeks ago and is starting to thicken up. Going to let it grow and see if I like it. With warmer weather coming I was thinking about putting this TBF in a bigger pot to help growth. Should I also move to bonsai soil? What type/size of pot should I get? Pond basket, terracotta bulb pot, colander, 2 gallon squat pot, old bowling trophy, bigger nursery pot or leave it in the Wigerts?



It's 13" tall trunk 3" wide and it's currently in a 6" oval that's 2" deep

 

[JackHammer]

The aerial root landed a few weeks ago and is starting to thicken up. Going to let it grow and see if I like it. With warmer weather coming I was thinking about putting this TBF in a bigger pot to help growth. Should I also move to bonsai soil? What type/size of pot should I get? Pond basket, terracotta bulb pot, colander, 2 gallon squat pot, old bowling trophy, bigger nursery pot or leave it in the Wigerts?

View attachment 476092

It's 13" tall trunk 3" wide and it's currently in a 6" oval that's 2" deep

View attachment 476093

I have no idea what you are talking about but I vote the "old bowling trophy"!

The real answer is: what are you trying to do with your tree? Is it "done" and ready to pot or are you trying to do other things with it?

For my ficus plants, I keep them in an organic, pumice, and cat litter mix. And then I have them in pots that are too big by an inch or 3. I am not really trying to slow growth on mine. They thrive in pretty much any well draining soil. A few I have are in 100% pumice and doing well.

 

[JackHammer]

Lol...yeah, that was pretty much my reaction the first time I tried forcing aerial roots as well!

I lost a bunch a pictures from this era so I don't have any "in progress" pictures But I tried creating a "straw" by wrapping some sphagnum in paper towel to form a root guide. I naively though "I'll get one single root". But, as I'm sure you now suspect! I didn't!

6/28/2020
View attachment 471636

The right single aerial root formed naturally. The left twisted-cluster-fuck was what came out of my first "straw" attempt to force a root! And this is only a 2 inch drop! It was much smaller when I first removed the straw. Were I careful, I think I could have trimmed back to a single root. But I didn't.

4/16/2022
Roughly 2 years later, it looked like this:
View attachment 471637

11/19/2022
Hard to see in this one...but after just a few months more...
View attachment 471650

You can see that the aerial roots are starting to compete with the size of the trunk! Ficus will maybe not be as bad. Schefflera aren't "woody" trunks in the way ficus are...they don't tend to thicken much. But, thinking about what aerial roots do, it's not hard to imagine that they can thicken faster than the trunk. It is a short cut to ground for all foliage beyond the root. As the branch grows out beyond the aerial root, the root will support more and more foliage...eventually more than the trunk is supporting...at least for that branch.

I did this experiment to learn what I could before possibly trying to force aerial roots on a ficus root over geode planting I have in development. After seeing how this experiment has turned out, I've rethought if I will even attempt it on the geode planting!

I think that twisty root is rad!

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I have no idea what you are talking about but I vote the "old bowling trophy"!

The real answer is: what are you trying to do with your tree? Is it "done" and ready to pot or are you trying to do other things with it?

For my ficus plants, I keep them in an organic, pumice, and cat litter mix. And then I have them in pots that are too big by an inch or 3. I am not really trying to slow growth on mine. They thrive in pretty much any well draining soil. A few I have are in 100% pumice and doing well.

It's not done and won't be for a long time, if ever. I'm just learning with it and am considering putting it in a bigger pot and the correct soil so it grows some more this year. So many different pot choices I was wondering what's best of TBF.

 

[JackHammer]

It's not done and won't be for a long time, if ever. I'm just learning with it and am considering putting it in a bigger pot and the correct soil so it grows some more this year. So many different pot choices I was wondering what's best of TBF.

The correct soil, meaning bonsai soil? Typically, bonsai soil is designed to slow down growth. Soil with more organic material tends to make plants grow faster. Of course, going too much in this direction can leave you with water logged roots. That's why I mix my organic mushroom compost with perlite. I also tend to use shallow trays and the diomacious earth (cat litter or Napa oil dry) holds in some water but hopefully not too much. There is nearly 50% perlite. If someone has other ideas about soil, they are probably wrong. ...just kidding...

Tropicals tend to be in glazed pots. I have several from chuck iker that I love. They are however aspirational for the trees that are currently occupying them. https://www.ikerbonsaipots.com/see-all-bonsai-pot-inventory/
I emailed him one time and he mentioned that he updates inventory on the weekends. It looks like he has some pots that were recently updated, maybe earlier today.

 

[Maiden69]

I used to love the aerial roots, but now I make sure I remove the ones I don't want to add to the design as soon as possible. In my case, they thicken way too fast.

May 2021 - the slim trunk in teh background was an aerial root.



August 2021 - double the size, and a second aerial root allowed to develop on the left side




November 2022 - the aerial root on the left is now a part of the trunk, new ones on the right side will complete the trunk hopefully by summer this year.



Tree turned around, the first aerial root is now part of the nebari. This summer the tree is probably going into a pot, depending on what I find underneath the soil line.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I used to love the aerial roots, but now I make sure I remove the ones I don't want to add to the design as soon as possible. In my case, they thicken way too fast.

May 2021 - the slim trunk in teh background was an aerial root.

View attachment 476293

August 2021 - double the size, and a second aerial root allowed to develop on the left side

View attachment 476295


November 2022 - the aerial root on the left is now a part of the trunk, new ones on the right side will complete the trunk hopefully by summer this year.

View attachment 476296

Tree turned around, the first aerial root is now part of the nebari. This summer the tree is probably going into a pot, depending on what I find underneath the soil line.

View attachment 476297

That's some quick progress. Nice! I'm going to put mine in a similar pot and soil as yours but I doubt it will grow that fast in MI.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

One of the aerial roots I moved has gotten Mi fat in a 6 weeks. Wondering how big it can get in this pot but I guess pretty fat.



The back. Not sure I like, this bend anymore. Can these break or crack?