Nut nest!

[barrosinc]

That tree seems really interesting if you can make it backbud.

 

[Dalmat]

You can put a rootball in a bucket of water over night , you will lose a great amount of soil without damaging roots and
you will have better view of "situation". Now, I don't know if it's freezing over night at your place, then it's out of question.

 

[GrimLore]

We have a motion for a bare root repot, something I can absolutely do next week.
does anyone second this motion
(sorry i'm letting my freemason hang out)

Not me - honest @crust is 100 percent on target. Put it in the ground with the roots wrapped in burlap until Spring. Some cutting and such can be done in the ground. These things do not like repotting very much like a Juniper. I would either leave it in that pot for now(won't hurt it) or bag it...

Grimmy

 

[M. Frary]

bare root repot, something I can absolutely do next week.

vegas tonight. . .

Gambling man.

 

[bonsaiBlake]

So here's a picture of the mess. To make a real decent bonsai out of this is going to take years and slow work. I'm down I just can't promise a safe place for the tree while I'm gone. The rest of my collection is going to be buried in their pots, as they had major root work done last summer and won't be needing a repot for 3-5 years. Things to ponder. Be back monday.

 

[crust]

This won't take too long--If it were me would try to follow the "King Vance solid-bottomed nursery stock recommendationsexecuted at the appropriate time)
• Repotting nursery trees: remove the tree from the container. Remove the soil from the top of the soil mass until you encounter roots.
• Once accomplishing this, take a saw and cut at least one third to one half off of the bottom of the soil mass.
• Pick a couple of spots along the soil mass and saw out a couple of slices like a pie, then rinse out the soil as far back toward the trunk as possible. Leave the rest of the soil alone. You should remove at least two segments totaling about 1/3 of the remaining soil mass. Try to avoid cutting major roots.What I meant by this is avoid cutting roots that are vital to the nebari, cut around them but leave the source intact.
• Alternatively, make 3 cuts into the soil mass in towards the trunk, but do not remove any soil.You should locate areas that are between existing roots as much as possible to make these cuts.This simple process will stop the further complicating of the circling roots. In a couple of years it will be possible to start raking out the old soil in these areas. I have found that for the most part, especially on older trees or larger trees, it is really difficult to straighten these roots out. It is better to cut them and regrow a new root system, but this has to be done slowly.
• Plant the tree with a well-draining bonsai mix into a pond basket, colander, or specially designed bonsai planter and allow it at least three years before disturbing the roots again.

 

[Potawatomi13]

This won't take too long--If it were me would try to follow the "King Vance solid-bottomed nursery stock recommendationsexecuted at the appropriate time)
• Repotting nursery trees: remove the tree from the container. Remove the soil from the top of the soil mass until you encounter roots.
• Once accomplishing this, take a saw and cut at least one third to one half off of the bottom of the soil mass.
• Pick a couple of spots along the soil mass and saw out a couple of slices like a pie, then rinse out the soil as far back toward the trunk as possible. Leave the rest of the soil alone. You should remove at least two segments totaling about 1/3 of the remaining soil mass. Try to avoid cutting major roots.What I meant by this is avoid cutting roots that are vital to the nebari, cut around them but leave the source intact.
• Alternatively, make 3 cuts into the soil mass in towards the trunk, but do not remove any soil.You should locate areas that are between existing roots as much as possible to make these cuts.This simple process will stop the further complicating of the circling roots. In a couple of years it will be possible to start raking out the old soil in these areas. I have found that for the most part, especially on older trees or larger trees, it is really difficult to straighten these roots out. It is better to cut them and regrow a new root system, but this has to be done slowly.
• Plant the tree with a well-draining bonsai mix into a pond basket, colander, or specially designed bonsai planter and allow it at least three years before disturbing the roots again.

Cut 1/2 off bottom(50%off), cut 1/3 of what's left off(33% 0f 50% is another 16.5% off) that leaves about 32.5% soil and then make a couple more blind cuts into that for detangling. Does not leave many undisturbed but plenty dead roots. Seems too much blind cutting to me.

 

[M. Frary]

Cut 1/2 off bottom(50%off), cut 2/3 of what's left off(66% 0f 50% is another 33% off) that leaves about 17% soil and then make a couple more blind cuts into that for detangling. Does not leave many undisturbed roots. Seems too much blind cutting to me.

If you take the time to read this correctly you are only cutting off 1/2 to 1/2 of the roots.
When he says cut into pie slices he doesn't mean take the slice out just slice inward from the edge of the root mass toward the trunk.
Does that help make sense of what Crust posted? I know it sounds like you're taking triangles out but were not. Just making the cuts.

 

[crust]

Cut 1/2 off bottom(50%off), cut 1/3 of what's left off(33% 0f 50% is another 16.5% off) that leaves about 32.5% soil and then make a couple more blind cuts into that for detangling. Does not leave many undisturbed but plenty dead roots. Seems too much blind cutting to me.

Keep in mind this is the cut-and-paste regurgitations of a disgruntled non-thong-wearing old bonsai-man.

 

[M. Frary]

disgruntled non-thong-wearing old bonsai-man.

Thank God!
Smoke in a thong is bad enough.
I do not want to see nor take a picture of Vance in a thong.
Speedo maybe.

 

[bonsaiBlake]

Its really up to you guys....I can do that repot procedure or we can style the top and worry about roots later. . . its a very healthy little bush as is. I'm heading back out of town this Thursday to visit family on the southern,OR coast for a couple weeks, I wont be back until the end of the month, which would be the perfect time for some good root work on this guy. the problem lies in the fact that I will be headed north shortly there after and if the weather decides to get weird I wont be there to provide the appropriate after care. . . i may take a couple weeks at the end of summer off and could do a summer dormancy repot, so far this has been my most successful time to do root work on a variety of species, summer comes fast and hard here so a spring repot(pre bud break) can be iffy, but a late summer(post new growth hardening) right when the weather is starting to cool at night, and the trees start putting their energy into new root growth seems to be the most effective and safe time for heavy work.

We can table the matter till summer if you guys want. . . .

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Blake, it is obvious you never worked for a multinational corporation, or in government. Have you ever seen the work product of a committee? Yikes.

I'm with Crust on what the next step. If you don't have time to repot, just stick the pot in the ground and deal with it after you get back. I would not prune much of anything until you have the roots worked out and a root pad shallow enough for a pot that is 4 inches deep or less. I have a nursery Colorado spruce, Picea pungens, that I'm going to stick in an Anderson flat this spring. Had it 2 years and have done nothing with the foliage yet. The flat is 15 x 15 x 5 inches. I usually only put 3 or 4 inches of media in it, but if I can't get it under the 4 inch depth, I have the extra room to play with.