How to repot from nursery stock

[one_bonsai]

I plan to get a nursery stock Juniper, prune and wire it and then leave it in the existing pot to recover for a year.

After a year should I be right to trim the roots and place it into a Bonsai pot? And if so, will it be able to handle cutting the roots by about a third and also removing all the potting mix?

Or would it be safer to leave the main root ball intact with the potting mix intact and just cutting back and removing the potting mix from around the edges? Or maybe bare root half the root ball and the other half next time?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Maybe. You'll see by then if it's healthy enough.
Or make the mistake to do things too fast.

Will it be able to handle it? If you buy a half dead stock plant, then probably no. If you buy and keep a thriving plant, then yes.
But get the material first, before you start planning. It will tell you when it's time.

 

[ysrgrathe]

I would get it transitioned to better mix. Conifer, hbr. Deciduous, bare root.

 

[Music4cash]

Assuming you have a trunk that you like. The three schools of thought seem to be:
1. Do the root work first because if it dies you haven't put a ton of work and time into it.
2. Do structural pruning the first year and repot the second because it's not as rough on the tree.
3. Do both at the same time because then you have something nice and if it lives leave it alone for a couple years to get its strength back.

My experience thus far as a beginner (which is why you should take my advice with a whole truckload of salt) is get a bunch of plants and try different stuff with them to learn what works well for you. Pay close attention to the way your plants react to what you do to them, and try to understand how they grow. Look at wild trees and study their shapes. Look at injured trees and look for how they healed or didn't heal. Bonsai is basically the art of injuring trees in an intentional manner to serve the purposes of the artist.

 

[one_bonsai]

Assuming you have a trunk that you like. The three schools of thought seem to be:
1. Do the root work first because if it dies you haven't put a ton of work and time into it.
2. Do structural pruning the first year and repot the second because it's not as rough on the tree.
3. Do both at the same time because then you have something nice and if it lives leave it alone for a couple years to get its strength back.

My experience thus far as a beginner (which is why you should take my advice with a whole truckload of salt) is get a bunch of plants and try different stuff with them to learn what works well for you. Pay close attention to the way your plants react to what you do to them, and try to understand how they grow. Look at wild trees and study their shapes. Look at injured trees and look for how they healed or didn't heal. Bonsai is basically the art of injuring trees in an intentional manner to serve the purposes of the artist.

Yeah I've noticed the three different schools of thought on re-potting. Can get confusing. Yes I think I will try the three different re-potting methods on a few Junipers and see what works best.

 

[leatherback]

I think I do not agree wth the three schools of thought.

When I started out i also thought to do as much as possible at once. However the aim is not to get a plant into a bonsai pot as quick as possible.

The fastest results are had by those who understand the plant. As you are starting out, you have no clue how to even keep the plant in a pot alive. This is not trivial.
In order to work the canopy and do the first styling the tree needs to be strong and healthy. If a plant comes frmo a nursery it is typically full of energy. Use this to your advantage and do the styling with an established rootball. Let the tree settle in and a year later start working the roots. This is also not trivial as cutting the wrong roots can cost you your tree.

I would recommend finding a club or experienced bonsai grower and get them to help you through the first trees. Bonsai is not about kurting the tree and hoping it survives. It is about respect for the plant, trying to create the image of an old tree, while maintaining maximum health. Health of the plant should always come first. If you focus on that, you will get the fastest results and your losses will be minimal.

 

[Cajunrider]

Bonsai is basically the art of injuring trees in an intentional manner to serve the purposes of the artist.

For me Bonsai is the art of directing the growth of the tree in an intentional manner and managing the energy of the tree in concert with the environment to achieve the growth path envisioned by the artist.

It would be sad indeed if the artist only has one vision for a tree for he or she won't enjoy the journey as much and may not know what else to do once he gets there.

 

[one_bonsai]

…. do the styling with an established rootball. Let the tree settle in and a year later start working the roots.

Yeah, I will definitely do as you suggest. So at the start of spring next year, should I bare root the Juniper?

 

[leatherback]

So at the start of spring next year, should I bare root the Juniper

This depends on how the tree respons to what you do to it. I think this is wher the confusion comes from. If you do not know what you are doing you have to take baby steps, and slowly expand the insults. So the ore experienced you are, the better you will be able to read the tree and what it can take. As an example: I just bought a large juniper from a friend. This friend said it had been collected 3 years ago and was now ready for styling. I had my doubts so brought he tree with me to a club evening. Withou being asked some of the old hands said: Be carefull with that tree; It is not strong enough to work yet. So, to get fast acces to experience of others

I would recommend finding a club or experienced bonsai grower and get them to help you through the first trees.

 

[Music4cash]

I think I do not agree wth the three schools of thought.

Perhaps a better way to say it is the three types of advice you get. I think I am likely oversimplifying because as a beginner I lack the experience to see subtle differences in the recommendations I receive.

For me Bonsai is the art of directing the growth of the tree in an intentional manner and managing the energy of the tree in concert with the environment to achieve the growth path envisioned by the artist.

Is there another way to manage the growth and direct energy apart from injuring the tree? I'm very new to bonsai but every technique I've seen thus far causes injury. If the goal of the artist is to enjoy the journey of the tree or to "finish" one as quick as possible I think my statement still holds.

 

[Vance Wood]

Just remember that Junipers are very hardy and will tolerate a great deal of abuse to the root system ---- once! Then you have to give it time to reestablish and flourish and colonize the new soil before being too aggressive with the top of the tree.

 

[Kendo]

If the New for Bonsai recommendation is to learning from the easy tree (Like the boxwood maybve??) and joining club. Hai, Thank you. Thank you! Thank you discussion.

 

[coachspinks]

One more piece of advice....since this will be your first or maybe one of your first trees, and if you decide to work on the top first, scrap off some of the soil and find what should eventually become base of the tree. You may have to cut away some of the plastic pot to do this and to avoid a huge lip on the pot. Once you start with the foliage go slow and if in doubt, leave it. Your juniper will respond much better if you don't remove 90% of the foliage (a common mistake for beginners.) Sometimes going slower can actually speed up the total process as long as you think of it as a several years long process.

 

[Cajunrider]

Perhaps a better way to say it is the three types of advice you get. I think I am likely oversimplifying because as a beginner I lack the experience to see subtle differences in the recommendations I receive.




Is there another way to manage the growth and direct energy apart from injuring the tree? I'm very new to bonsai but every technique I've seen thus far causes injury. If the goal of the artist is to enjoy the journey of the tree or to "finish" one as quick as possible I think my statement still holds.

I'm not saying that we don't have to injure the trees at all but there are also the soil, fertilization, light, angle to the light etc. that one can employ to effect the growth of a tree

 

[Vance Wood]

I'm not saying that we don't have to injure the trees at all but there are also the soil, fertilization, light, angle to the light etc. that one can employ to effect the growth of a tree

If it is your desire to create a bonsai it is necessary to injury the tree in some way or another. From the viewpoint of a beginner root pruning, branch pruning, and shoot pruning are all injurious even if in a programed direction. Truth is you cannot make a bonsai without these techniques. Even keeping a tree in a bonsai pot is injurious if not done in a programed cycle. If you wish to inflict kindness on a tree leave it alone and find something else to do. Maybe bonsai a Chevrolet.

 

[sorce]

You did it already yeah?

Do it again a few times!

My thing is this....
Once you style a tree...especially Newb..
It's hard to let it grow enough foliage back to safely repot...EVER!
Cuz the "design will be lost"..."pruny hands"..etc.

So repot first while it has foliage to reestablish itself.

Foliage to contemplate a good design.

It's also easier to gauge health this way.

I repotted all these after the Summer Solstice. (when for you? WFK!)Lol
They all Bronzed Down or Purpled Up for winter so I know they will survive as they had a mind to go dormant. They are not "confused".

Various Degrees of pruning/Wiring.
All from Nursery Pots.

Blue Chip.

Shimpaku.


Gold Coast.

3 Blue Rugs.


Still Shaggy with no definition.

This is only my second year doing it this way...repotting in summer, and enjoying juniper at all really, for the first time in 7-8 years!

So this year 3 for a couple others will be the first, "regular", year they have to grow.
I'll be structure pruning before growth in spring and fall, hopefully having something worth wiring for fall wood-on-putting.

Oh and I'm not a Nana Fanna.
Lol! Like Pappy... Eff Nana!

Sorce

 

[sorce]

oh the Volume of all those pots....
They are all about 1/4 or less than the Volume of pot they were in.

Sorce

 

[Cajunrider]

If it is your desire to create a bonsai it is necessary to injury the tree in some way or another. From the viewpoint of a beginner root pruning, branch pruning, and shoot pruning are all injurious even if in a programed direction. Truth is you cannot make a bonsai without these techniques. Even keeping a tree in a bonsai pot is injurious if not done in a programed cycle. If you wish to inflict kindness on a tree leave it alone and find something else to do. Maybe bonsai a Chevrolet.

Again, I am not arguing that with all the bonsai great around here. I'm a newbie and I've learned that I must focus on the "keep it alive" side. That's all I was saying. In my eagerness to learn, I often created injuries that the trees struggle to overcome. In a way, I wrote that to remind myself. Pardon the post.

 

[Vance Wood]

Again, I am not arguing that with all the bonsai great around here. I'm a newbie and I've learned that I must focus on the "keep it alive" side. That's all I was saying. In my eagerness to learn, I often created injuries that the trees struggle to overcome. In a way, I wrote that to remind myself. Pardon the post.

My point, from the perspective of doing bonsai with varying degrees of success since 1957 is the old omelet and eggs scenario, you cannot make one without breaking something. I have seen so many people become so obsessed with the health issues that they are afraid to cut anything, prune an thing, wire anything, and terrified to repot anything. In the beginning I was much the same way and it took me years to realize that fear is not a good teacher.

 

[Cajunrider]

My point, from the perspective of doing bonsai with varying degrees of success since 1957 is the old omelet and eggs scenario, you cannot make one without breaking something. I have seen so many people become so obsessed with the health issues that they are afraid to cut anything, prune an thing, wire anything, and terrified to repot anything. In the beginning I was much the same way and it took me years to realize that fear is not a good teacher.

Well, my trouble is that fear was never a part of my vocabulary in any aspect of life. That's why I kind of create emergency brake reminders for myself.