Shohin Siberean Elm

[jkennedy2316]

I purchased this awesome Elm from Hartinez. Starting a progress thread.

 

[jkennedy2316]

The branches were left to grow out to thicken. I lightly pruned some in late winter and left a few more on to thicken more this growing season.

 

[jkennedy2316]

I should have taken more pictures of the repotting process so I could get some actual advice. I anticipate some criticsms and I am open to them. I was probably too aggressive.

I knew I wanted to repot it into a smaller pot to bring the proportions down to a shohin style. The old pot was 10 inches wide and I wanted something closer to 6-7. I spent a long time trying to find the right aesthetic for the pot and went with an unglazed masculine rectangle. I waited until I saw buds starting to form and burst and spent yesterday repotting.

After taking out all the soil - it was apparent why the tree was originally in such a wide pot. The tree had a ~7.5 inch nebari plate. At this point it was decisiontime. I tried to follow Ryan Neils advice about intermediate repotting (i.e. don't do it) and just went for it. I considered Siberan Elm's overall resilience and the time of year, and decided to aggressively prune the nebari plate and root system to get it into a shohin sized pot.

I used a trunk splitter to remove about 1 inch on each side of the nebari plate. Overall probably reduced roots by 40-50 percent, which I know is very significant.

I originally wanted to change the planting angle, shifting slightly right for a more upright look. I decided that I had already removed too many roots to achieve this during this repot and will work on reducing roots to achieve this angle change during later repots.

I put it in about 92% 1:1:1 monto clay, lava rock, pumice with remaining being fine bark pines and some horticultural charcoal.

I will keep it out of direct sun for the next few weeks. Planning to bring it inside for a few of the remaining early Spring nights that drop below 50.

 

[jkennedy2316]

I'm nervous as hell I went too far. I am dissapointed because in trying to follow one piece of Ryan Neil's advice (don't intermediate repot for development), I feel like I ignored another, more important bit of his advice - when repotting a tree, there should never be a question about it surviving.

I often find myself being way too cautious in bonsai, as well as getting stuck in decision paralysis. For once I decided to just go for it, and we'll see if I end up paying the price.

Aftercare steps will be shade for a few weeks, consistent moisture but not waterlogging, keeping it out of early spring cold snaps. No fertilizer for a while. Are there other things I should be doing to improve recovery odds?

 

[rockm]

I'm nervous as hell I went too far. I am dissapointed because in trying to follow one piece of Ryan Neil's advice (don't intermediate repot for development), I feel like I ignored another, more important bit of his advice - when repotting a tree, there should never be a question about it surviving.

I often find myself being way too cautious in bonsai, as well as getting stuck in decision paralysis. For once I decided to just go for it, and we'll see if I end up paying the price.

Aftercare steps will be shade for a few weeks, consistent moisture but not waterlogging, keeping it out of early spring cold snaps. No fertilizer for a while. Are there other things I should be doing to improve recovery odds?

It will be fine. It’s a Siberian elm. Mostly fool proof

 

[BrianBay9]

Next time you repot, consider changing the planting angle. I think tilting the trunk 25 - 30 degrees to the right would improve it. Of course, given your description of the roots it might not be possible right away.

 

[BrianBay9]

Next time you repot, consider changing the planting angle. I think tilting the trunk 25 - 30 degrees to the right would improve it. Of course, given your description of the roots it might not be possible right away.

And now after reading your post more carefully, I see I added nothing you weren't already considering....sorry about that.

 

[jkennedy2316]

Some updates. Tree pushed growth strongly after the significant root work

 

[jkennedy2316]

Last week of may I pruned back to 1/2 leaf nodes:

 

[jkennedy2316]

Pushing new buds strongly:

 

[ponderingsage]

I'm nervous as hell I went too far. I am dissapointed because in trying to follow one piece of Ryan Neil's advice (don't intermediate repot for development), I feel like I ignored another, more important bit of his advice - when repotting a tree, there should never be a question about it surviving.

I often find myself being way too cautious in bonsai, as well as getting stuck in decision paralysis. For once I decided to just go for it, and we'll see if I end up paying the price.

Aftercare steps will be shade for a few weeks, consistent moisture but not waterlogging, keeping it out of early spring cold snaps. No fertilizer for a while. Are there other things I should be doing to improve recovery odds?

Yeah, you have to make the big moves early to make good trees. Way to commit!