Nursery find

[Jcmmaple]

So you I have seen someone on here post something about Appledoorn nursery, I finally had the chance to go today. He has a lot of different pines, maples and other things, it’s a really nice place. I found a pretty awesome maple but it wasn’t for sale, I was pretty bummed. We bought some things for the landscape and was on our way to pay and I noticed a section we didn’t go to, and there they were. Old procumbens nana in 3gal pots, there were pretty neglected. I chose the one that wasn’t as bad as the others, so I was stoked to find something. Any tips on getting back to full strength? It’s rootbound too but I didn’t know if I could mess with the roots or not. Here it is.

 

[Esolin]

Nice find! I looks a heckuva lot healthier than an old nana I bought (which is still a rather sickly shade of lime green, but still ticking). Since the strength of junipers comes from their foliage mass, I'd repot first to refresh the soil and improve percolation before reducing it very much. You could take off maybe a 1/4 to 1/3 of the foliage to get more light into the interior, but I wouldn't go much more than that if repotting. Give it a year in a new pot, then start working the top. Just my two cents.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Thanks

 

[Jcmmaple]

So as long as I keep the roots intake and place in a box with good soil, it’s ok to repot now?

 

[ShadyStump]

So as long as I keep the roots intake and place in a box with good soil, it’s ok to repot now?

You're safe to repot, but maybe don't get too crazy trimming the roots yet. Just take out anything that looks unhealthy and give it some new soil.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Ok sounds good, thanks guys for the input. I’m pretty comfortable with deciduous trees but when it comes to pines and junipers I’m still learning. This may be the time I get a pro to help, basically I’m self taught.

 

[sorce]

I think if it took you 3 years to figure if you wanted to graft different foilage on this and three years to learn how, you'd be better off waiting to figure that out before making any large changes.

It just seems like it's leaning all it's green out of the way for you to make something good out of that trunkline.

Even a repot with an angle change can throw a wrench in what this seems to be inviting.

Figure it's worth a thought.

Sorce

 

[Jcmmaple]

Thanks @sorce, I understand what you are saying. I figured this wouldn’t be a easy tree, but for the price I thought why not. I was playing with some angles yesterday, but like you said he was difficult to see where it was going. A cascade angle looked pretty decent though, I’m just going to go through it tomorrow and clean all the dead stuff out.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Old procumbens nana in 3gal pots, there were pretty neglected. I chose the one that wasn’t as bad as the others, so I was stoked to find something. Any tips on getting back to full strength?

You need to repot, plain and simple. Until you get it out of the rootbound condition and into a wider, flatter container with fresh soil, you are just going to be dealing with a weak tree.

Late last year I bought a fair number of large nursery trees, and am almost done moving them into Anderson flats. I just waited until our last frost, and then worked like mad. I have two left to do. You have plenty of time to repot that tree before the heat of the summer. Don't reduce the foliage too much - just clean it out. Don't reduce the roots by more than 50% if you can avoid it... just rake the roots out, get rid of every speck of old dirt, but do not rinse the roots with water. Then while the tree is recovering keep the soil moist but do not overwater. Water the foliage several times a day. Keep it protected from direct sun and wind. You should see new growth within a month... which is usually the sign that the tree is growing new roots as well.

If you are going to do dramatic styling and pruning you should probably wait a year after the repot. If you want to clean it up, trim it back, and eliminate some redundant growth (no more than 25% of the foliage), you can do so in June.

 

[Maiden69]

My juniper is starting to wake up now, which means it is the perfect time for report. Light green color at the very tips of the foliage, and I am in Texas. I'm sure that one is probably still dormant, so I would wait till it starts showing signs of awakening. I wouldn't go to hard on the foliage this time, repot this year and bring its health back, then work on it next year.

I think you have an opportunity to make a few trees from that one by layering... nice find.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

The name of the nursery reminds me of an insurance company with funny commercials.

 

[Lazylightningny]

You can clean up dead twigs, but don't remove any foliage. I find Junipers recover much better after bare rooting if I retain all the foliage. Then leave it alone for at least a year.

 

[Jcmmaple]

@Bonsai Nut thanks, I don’t really want to do anything but repot at the moment so thanks for the advice. I plan on building a box for it, does it need to be a tight fit or wide enough to flatten roots and room to grow?