Nursery Brazilian Rain Tree Root Bound?

[rpj_music]

I got this very unruly BRT as a birthday present in late may. I've had it indoors in a south facing window. Humidity tray. It's had a lot of growth of the last month, after some inspection there are roots coming out of drainage holes in the nursery pot. It appears to have been re-potted once due to the exposed roots. Should I wait until next spring to re-pot or if would handle the re-pot this late in the summer. Also, if I do re-pot should I go with a shallow display pot or just move it into a bigger deeper growing pot. Thanks!

 

[Forsoothe!]

They will fill any pot you put it in every year. Repot it every year.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Its a tropical so I dont see any issues repotting whenever you want, so long as the aftercare is proper.

The type of pot depends on your goals for the tree. If youre trying to thicken trunk and create strength and vigor, a deeper larger pot would be fine. If you want to reign in growth, a shallower, smaller pot would be ok.

 

[rpj_music]

Its a tropical so I dont see any issues repotting whenever you want, so long as the aftercare is proper.

The type of pot depends on your goals for the tree. If youre trying to thicken trunk and create strength and vigor, a deeper larger pot would be fine. If you want to reign in growth, a shallower, smaller pot would be ok.

I'm going to go find a larger pot and go for it then. Thank you so much! Helpful and kind.

 

[LanceMac10]

Do you have any place outdoors you can site the tree for the warmer months in your climate?
A little late for a re-pot, probably un-necessary.
Use a good, modern substrate when you re-pot. No potting soil, please.
Yearly re-pots will set back any progress you hope to make. Re-pot when water will not drain quickly.......
......roots should look like this when it's time to re-pot.....

 

[Forsoothe!]

Do you have any place outdoors you can site the tree for the warmer months in your climate?
A little late for a re-pot, probably un-necessary.
Use a good, modern substrate when you re-pot. No potting soil, please.
Yearly re-pots will set back any progress you hope to make. Re-pot when water will not drain quickly.......
......roots should look like this when it's time to re-pot.....
View attachment 250701

That's exactly what you should not see when you repot ANYTHING! That is rootbound, and in that condition it has not been growing for some time. We, as super achievers and Masters of All, are supposed to anticipate these sorts of conditions and keep our plants growing at peak, or near peak performance levels and not wait until water stands on top the roots rather than being immediately drawn into the pot.

 

[Carol 83]

Do you have any place outdoors you can site the tree for the warmer months in your climate?
A little late for a re-pot, probably un-necessary.
Use a good, modern substrate when you re-pot. No potting soil, please.
Yearly re-pots will set back any progress you hope to make. Re-pot when water will not drain quickly.......
......roots should look like this when it's time to re-pot.....
View attachment 250701

So you think it's to late to repot? I did a few of mine a couple of weeks ago, and they suffered no ill effects. I thought summer was THE time to repot tropicals. When do you repot yours?

 

[Forsoothe!]

So you think it's to late to repot? I did a few of mine a couple of weeks ago, and they suffered no ill effects. I thought summer was THE time to repot tropicals. When do you repot yours?

Repot right now and put it in ~6 to 8 hours sun, and feed every couple weeks. They respond quickly enough to be happy by fall.

 

[Carol 83]

Repot right now and put it in ~6 to 8 hours sun, and feed every couple weeks. They respond quickly enough to be happy by fall.

I did, a couple of weeks ago, They never even noticed. We've had lots of rain, hot temps and the usual 700% humidity, so they're thriving.

 

[LanceMac10]

...Taylorsville forecast is calling for temps near 100 degrees for the week, or more.....it would be foolish to re-pot, particularly a stick in a pot.
...not to mention, at 4200', the sun will be significantly stronger than at lower elevations....
...looks like OP is growing inside, so growth is weak, despite what he may think. No reason to re-pot until next year, or longer...
...re-potting is stressful and is a step back in terms of vigor, people re-pot too much....
...I aim for late May to mid June, I want the tree recovered from the root work so I take advantage of the heart of the summer...



@Forsoothe! quit yappin' out yer rear. Didn't see you water this tree once, but yet you know how it grew? Re-potting yearly is foolish. Step into the 21st century with some modern soil. I can see your confusion seeing all those roots grown in good soil, not potting soil.

 

[Forsoothe!]

This is a tree from the heart of the Amazon jungles. 100°F is no big deal. If there is too much sun, or a concurrent lack of humidity, that might be a problem, but it will accommodate that with folding leaves whenever it feels like it. Almost all trees have a growth spurt after repotting, albeit as long as it's in the right season. The exceptions are few and prove the rule. Most tropicals in temperate zones can go back in full sun immediately as though nothing has happened. I have a greenhouse and have occasionally repotted BRT, Figs and Bougainvillea twice in a year.

As to bonsai mixes verses potting soils, I don't like either. Bonsai mixes are essentially sterile rocks with insignificant portions of mock organics added and rely on the attendant to fertilizer often enough, but not too often to keep the tree growing. Potting Soils have become the dumping ground of choice for ground up paper and cardboard we leave at the curb every week as recyclables and have too little mineral content. They are too wet. Rocky bonsai soils also don't have usable mineral content and are too dry for the uninitiated, maybe especially at the low humidities at 4,200'? Ordinary mineral soil available as Top Soil is cheap at $3 per 40 lb. bag available everywhere for people who do not live where they have land they can dig a pot-full for a houseplant. The standard retort that, "You can't grow bonsai in ordinary soil because bonsai are special in special growing conditions” is silly on its face. People are now and have been for hundreds of years been growing houseplants of all sizes in it. Maybe bonsai people can't do it because they're special...

My personal formula for landscaping and potting my trees allows me to grow well all sorts of trees, even though I don't have Pines which may or may not need the sterile scree that is pushed for all trees by special people.

 

[Bonds Guy]

Glad someone finally said it. I may not have a finished bonsai, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that bonsai can and should be grown in organic soil until it has reached the desired trunk size. I hear they should then be potted in inorganic soils when moved to a bonsai pot for drainage reasons, but idk how true that is. I intend to test this within a year or two

 

[_#1_]

Glad someone finally said it. I may not have a finished bonsai, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that bonsai can and should be grown in organic soil until it has reached the desired trunk size. I hear they should then be potted in inorganic soils when moved to a bonsai pot for drainage reasons, but idk how true that is. I intend to test this within a year or two

Hahaha

We have another comedian over here

 

[Forsoothe!]

Hahaha

We have another comedian over here

Not very many people laugh at my trees...

 

[_#1_]

Not very many people laugh at my trees...

Oh no I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at the new guy. I mean laughing with.

Dont get me wrong. I up potted a cryptomeria in a largish planter with straight pine bark. Yup 100% pine bark. And it's in its 3rd year in the same media. Trees can be grown in just about anything. Some are just easier to manage than others in terms of watering, and watering cycles. You know that.

Let me go snap a quick pick later of the crypto so people dont say I'm BSing...

 

[Forsoothe!]

I agree, you can grow in almost anything from sand to clay to rocks, gravel, woodchips, etc., ad infinitum, if you are attentive to the vagaries of your mix. The Japanese mixes are used to essentially stop vigorous growth and maintain a tree size, still with healthy growth. I fancy my mix allows me more vigorous growth than ordinary soil, but I'm a gardener-gone-bonsai so I have a different background and agenda.

 

[_#1_]

The Japanese mixes are used to essentially stop vigorous growth and maintain a tree size, still with healthy growth.

True that. That's why they can control the fert dosage. I don't know if this is a good analogy. Lets say you have two pieces of white papers. On have red, white, and blue scrbbled all over it while the other is blank. The blank one you can scrbble as much or as little red, white, or blue as you please. Over time the color fades away and you can choose to do it over or leave the paper blank. All about control and discipline if you ask me.

Anyways, here's the Crypto I've been neglecting since fall of 2016. After purchase I loosened out edges of the rootball and popped it in a much larger container. Back-filled it with pine mulch to overwinter. The needles never turned to that bronze/copper color throughout most of winter. The top 1/3 stared turning late winter going toward spring WTH?! Spring '17 arrived and did a scratch test on upper 1/3. No green :/ So I lopped off the top. Mid spring and still no light green tips of new growth. Did a scratch test at the base. No green! Toward end of spring without seeing any signs of life, I lifted the tree out the pot and saw some white tipped feeder roots! At that point, I pooped it back in the pot and left it there thinking the roots just hadn't completely died off. Then summer arrived and goddarnit, it started to wake up! So I just let it do its thing to now. Growing but forgotten lol.

Summer 2017. Notice how sparse the little guy was


As it sits now. The mulch is breaking down but it's still light and airy. Not compacted at all and drains very well. But think I'll repot it next spring if it's still alive. All this time I never dug down to inspect the mulch even though I knew I should.

 

[Forsoothe!]

All about control and discipline if you ask me.

Yes, emphatically yes, the soil mix reinforces the bond between tree and caregiver. Bonsai is not a hobby in Japan, it's a discipline. Being tethered to the trees entrusted to you is an obligation, -a life and death responsibility. Everyone is expected to do what they are supposed to do. The concept of, "That's good enough" does not exist, you do what is expected of you and never shirk responsibility or complain. Compare that to the, "I wanna do it my way, and how can I have a finished bonsai ASAP", the more typical American attitude. To each their own.

I bought another 'Black Dragon' this spring and I kept it in my small greenhouse until ~May. This is 6b and they won't overwinter here, take my word for it. I intend to keep it on the floor in a cold corner of the greenhouse and see what happens. I repotted it in May in a bonsai training pot and put it in full sun. I figured to subject it to the conditions I think it needs/that I can come closest to here, and damn the torpedoes. So far, so good. It's doing great! We'll see what it looks like next spring after a whole winter in as close to a 7b or 8 winter as I can come.

It looks to me like most of Philly is 7b. Are you too north or west for 7b? Your tree looks great! Did you give it some protection?