Rudd’s Rocky Mountain #1

[Ruddigger]

I purchased this RMJ from Randy Knight October 2025. The jury is still out on how well they do down here in Southern California, so the plan is to repot it and then graft it with Itoigawa as soon as possible.

As purchased:


Live vein cleaned and deadwood worked:


Sneak peek at the intended pot:

 

[Dav4]

Gotta love that deadwood!

Looking forward to the styling and full reveal with the pot pairing.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

The pot looks great.

 

[The Barber]

Deadwood cleaned up really nice. Look forward to seeing it in the pot!

 

[Colorado]

Looks like it’s going to be an incredible tree Rudd!

 

[pandacular]

Incredibly rad, Ryan. Looking forward to watching this one come together.

 

[Wood]

Huh, that pot looks familiar. Dope combo!

 

[Ruddigger]

Looking forward to the styling and full reveal with the pot pairing.

The pot looks great.

Deadwood cleaned up really nice. Look forward to seeing it in the pot!

Huh, that pot looks familiar. Dope combo!

Thanks, I just hope it actually fits in the pot, it's going to be tight.

Incredibly rad, Ryan. Looking forward to watching this one come together.

Looks like it’s going to be an incredible tree Rudd!

Thanks guys.

 

[The Barber]

Thanks, I just hope it actually fits in the pot, it's going to be tight.



Thanks guys.

I have soooo many old yamadori I've picked up from Satoyama Bonsai... always such a dillema when you have no idea what I'm going to be dealing with under the soil in a big tub or box. One of my Colorado spruce is in a tub that almost needs 3 people to lift it....pretty sure it is going to need multiple boxes/repottings to get the roots reduced for a pot.

 

[Colorado]

I have soooo many old yamadori I've picked up from Satoyama Bonsai... always such a dillema when you have no idea what I'm going to be dealing with under the soil in a big tub or box. One of my Colorado spruce is in a tub that almost needs 3 people to lift it....pretty sure it is going to need multiple boxes/repottings to get the roots reduced for a pot.

Could be a dilemma….orrrrr a good excuse to buy more pots to make sure you’ve got something that is going to work

 

[Esolin]

The jury is still out on how well they do down here in Southern California, so the plan is to repot it and then graft it with Itoigawa as soon as possible.

There may be some unknowns with Yamadori (genetic predispositions, shock from environmental changes etc.) but I've kept some nursery stock RMJs happy and healthy for the last 9 years in San Diego County. They don't seem to care one bit about the climate.

Beautiful tree!

 

[Ruddigger]

The heat seems to be done for the year and we’re headed into a week of rain, so repotting season is upon us here in Southern California.

Here’s the rootball undisturbed after removal from the nursery can. Looks like it has a lot of fine feeders.



I kept everything pretty much intact and potted it into (what else?) a Tokutake pot. Oh, I also shortened the jin at the bottom.

 

[Hartinez]

Great planting angle Rudd.

 

[Wood]

That's the pot that Nao put into the ABS pot competition, right?

 

[Hartinez]

That's the pot that Nao put into the ABS pot competition, right?

Oh dam. It totally is isn’t it?!?! Rudd out here planning his PBE grand prize winning takeover in a few years.

 

[yenling83]

Epic Tree/Pot combo!!! Congrats sir! I'm not So Cal, however in San Luis Obispo County, I've kept RMJ with no issue-super healthy.

 

[Ruddigger]

That's the pot that Nao put into the ABS pot competition, right?

It’s similar. He made a few tests for the competition, this is one of those.

 

[Ruddigger]

Epic Tree/Pot combo!!! Congrats sir! I'm not So Cal, however in San Luis Obispo County, I've kept RMJ with no issue-super healthy.

Thanks Jeremiah. I bought two from Randy, I’m keeping the other one natural as a test.

 

[Scriv]

Don't graft this... not only is the deadwood out of this world, but the foliage is really tight on this particular tree. If it was long and leggy with long internodes like most all of them, then sure. But the foliage is already 'itoigawa like'.

Absolutely nailed the potting angle btw.

 

[Ruddigger]

Don't graft this... not only is the deadwood out of this world, but the foliage is really tight on this particular tree. If it was long and leggy with long internodes like most all of them, then sure. But the foliage is already 'itoigawa like'.

Absolutely nailed the potting angle btw.

Thanks Kyle. The foliage on these seems to stay tighter up in the PNW, but once they get going down here it’ll get leggy.