They are fussy about root work is the only temperamental thing I've noticed about them. They can be a little slow to recover from repotting, so just be patient.Thanks both. Judy, I'm glad you say they are easy enough as I have heard they can be a bit temperamental. I had the choice between this and a twin trunk, but chose this for exactly that reason - decent taper. Whereas the twin trunk had no taper at all. Just bought a nice light blue oval yamafusa for it so really looking forward to repotting.
Indeed.They are fussy about root work is the only temperamental thing I've noticed about them. They can be a little slow to recover from repotting, so just be patient.
Funny that mine came from Wee in Oregon... I didn't have any trouble bending branches pretty heavily, but I suppose slow and safe is the best way. And it seems to me like these are growth spurt trees. The shoot up then stop, then have another spurt. They are funny.Many years ago everyone wanted Stewartia but they were nearly impossible to find. None of the larger nurseries would grow them because they did not transplant well. I finally bought one about 20 plus years ago. It seems the Oregon nurseries figured out how to do it. Mine was about 7 feet tall and I settled for a fairly large bonsai at about 38 inches. I have always treated the plant tenderly and it has been relatively slow to develop. I have done some branch bending and ramification but never very aggressively. I decided this past winter that it is going to get its first major re-pot in 20 plus years and I am going to seriously further the work on ramification. It had always been enough for me just to have a nice Stewartia, but it is really come time to advance its development as a bonsai.
Unless already happy with trunk size should not rush into bonsai pot. Trunk size stops growing(almost)if rushing this step. What is around base of tree?
Funny that mine came from Wee in Oregon... I didn't have any trouble bending branches pretty heavily, but I suppose slow and safe is the best way. And it seems to me like these are growth spurt trees. The shoot up then stop, then have another spurt. They are funny.