Too Late for Repot...?

[Damage Inc]

So I swear I was only at the nursery to pick up 3 more yews to finish off a little yard hedge while telling myself the whole time "No more Pre-Bonsai...Benches are full...No more trees" and I came across this maple. No tags, no price and looking a little worse for wear. Trunk at base is approx 4"-4.5" in diameter. Long story longer, the nursey attendant gave it to me for a $20 CDN (<$15 US) and said "good luck". Not even sure the type of maple but from the emerging leaves there is still some life in it.

Am I still good to repot with the emerging leaves and temperatures in my region? I'm in Zone 8b, and looking and temps from 6C to 25C (43F to 77) for the next week or so.

Also any advice on what type of maple from the limited info seen in the pics below?



Thanks, Ian

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Seems like it’s the perfect time as most buds are still opening.

 

[Damage Inc]

Thank you @Gustavo Martins

 

[Baku1875]

So I swear I was only at the nursery to pick up 3 more yews to finish off a little yard hedge while telling myself the whole time "No more Pre-Bonsai...Benches are full...No more trees" and I came across this maple. No tags, no price and looking a little worse for wear. Trunk at base is approx 4"-4.5" in diameter. Long story longer, the nursey attendant gave it to me for a $20 CDN (<$15 US) and said "good luck". Not even sure the type of maple but from the emerging leaves there is still some life in it.

Am I still good to repot with the emerging leaves and temperatures in my region? I'm in Zone 8b, and looking and temps from 6C to 25C (43F to 77) for the next week or so.

Also any advice on what type of maple from the limited info seen in the pics below?

View attachment 484423View attachment 484425View attachment 484424

Thanks, Ian

very nice find, chunky trunk too. It's still april, you can do some light raking/root work around the edges, bare root the lower 1/4th, and slip it back into the same pot, coarse perlite/pumice on the bottom and chopstick into the outer ring.

Looks like a cheap peatmoss/potting soil blend. Get some health going this year, and you can do more to it next year. For 15 bucks USD? very nice, already in 'house money' territory if you can get it healthy enough to do more work next year.

 

[Tieball]

The tree is going to make a nice gnarly ancient looking tree with lots of aged character scars. Mighty fine!

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Nice, but make sure to protect from freezes afterwards.

 

[Damage Inc]

Thanks @Baku1875 . I am sure the existing potting mix is just as poor as you describe but will get a better look under the hood when I get home tonight. I do have coarse pumice already sifted at home. Also have a big bag of perlite but other than for seedlings/cuttings I haven't used much of it. Other than my azaleas, which got Kanuma/pumice 60:40 most of my other trees have a regular APL 1:1:1 with coco coir and/or pine bark. Good advice on taking it easy with the roots and giving it a recovery period.

 

[Dav4]

In my garden, I’d bare root that right now and remove lots of roots if needed. That’s got lots of potential, me thinks.

 

[Damage Inc]

Thanks @Tieball it will easily be the thickest tree on my bench now and I think many of my other trees are going to suffer 'trunk' envy...
Good call @Cofga as I hope that we wont be seeing any freezing temps anytime soon in my neck of the woods. Heck I just took down the makeshift tree storage area in my garage last night so I could start getting my motorcycles on the hoist and ready for spring riding. LOL

 

[Damage Inc]

Hi @Dav4 . Thanks for the advice. Do you have any further advice on repotting media?

I have to admit that bare rooting with root work was my initial thought also but then another opinion above from @Baku1875 got me rethinking. As a newb to all this bonsai stuff but with a degree in YouTube/BNut bonsai I can safely say I will pour everyone's good and welcomed advice into the mix and decide once I get a look at the root conditions.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

I wouldn't bare root it till next year. You don't know how healthy it is, as it looks like it's had a rough go. Personally, I'd play it safe. I'd pull it out of the pot, dig down from the top, find your front/nebari, rake out the outside of the ball, removing any circling roots, then take off 1/3 of the bottom of the root ball off. Split pot it into some better organic soil or better yet plant in the ground. Let it recover this year, branch select in late fall at leaf fall, bare root next year and then put it in some Bonsai substrate.

It looks like an Acer Palmatum.

And what a great find!

 

[Damage Inc]

Hi @The Warm Canuck good points on not knowing the health of the tree and playing it safe. A question on why you suggest to slip pot with better organic soil... Would there be an issue with using a standard APL or the pumice/perlite mentioned above up against whatever native soil was left after the mild root clean up? In other words, could using dissimilar medias adjacent to one another cause issues?

 

[The Warm Canuck]

Hi @The Warm Canuck good points on not knowing the health of the tree and playing it safe. A question on why you suggest to slip pot with better organic soil... Would there be an issue with using a standard APL or the pumice/perlite mentioned above up against whatever native soil was left after the mild root clean up? In other words, could using dissimilar medias adjacent to one another cause issues?

Ya, like you say, because you wouldn't be repotting, you'd want to use something that's similar to what it was growing in but using something that's better to encourage it's recover this season. I have a feeling that your Maple is planted in pine park, most nurseries (at least here in Ontario), use pine bark because of it's low cost and high water retention.

I use PROMIX HP w/mycorrhizae in these situations. It's an excellent organic substrate thats airy and drains well, used frequently by cannabis growers: All the big box stores in Canada carry it, but it is pricey, but worth it, incomparisson to the majority of the crappy soils that are sold:

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca

 

[Dav4]

It’s at the perfect stage to aggressively deal with the roots. If you want to get it out of the current potting media, now is the time to do it. Maples handle complete bare rooting well with good timing. Ultimately, I’m a big fan of akadama-based soil‘s, but I have used loads of other aggregate soil recipes with success when it comes to maples. They tend to be very forgiving.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

It’s at the perfect stage to aggressively deal with the roots. If you want to get it out of the current potting media, now is the time to do it. Maples handle complete bare rooting well with good timing. Ultimately, I’m a big fan of akadama-based soil‘s, but I have used loads of other aggregate soil recipes with success when it comes to maples. They tend to be very forgiving.

Even if you don't know how healthy the tree is? It looks pretty rough.

 

[Jcmmaple]

I 100% agree with @Dav4, I bareroot all maples regardless the trees looks. It’s a good time and no better time than now to start working the nebari, great find too.

 

[Dav4]

Even if you don't know how healthy the tree is? It looks pretty rough.

Yup… could be a root issue weakening the tree. Ultimately, it’s up to the OP to decide how aggressive to be. In my experience, keeping a tree in two completely different types of soil is usually counterproductive. With old conifers, caution is warranted with aggressive soil changes.:. Not so much with maples.

 

[Damage Inc]

OK here's the plan... at least this second... Oh look squirrel...

Will pull from the pot tonight and take a look, IF the roots look healthy and I'm feeling it, I may bare root and repot into APL, but on the chance that things are looking a little dodgy I will pick up some of the PROMIX HP w/mycorrhizae on my commute home tonight so I have the option to take a more conservative approach.

Will report back in the AM! Thanks for all the input.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

These guys have a lot more experience than me, so barerooting may be the way to go. I just had a bad experience last year. Just like you i got a maple that was in the back of the nursery, barerooted it, and it died. It also was in rough shape and the owner was happy to sell it to me for $20. I've just become a little more conservative in my approach but I'm sure with more experience, I'll know better.

 

[Damage Inc]

Well I took a somewhat combined advice approach of semi-bare root, cut off 1.5” of bottom roots and back into same pot with APL mix.

The roots were very dense but not root bound in the pot, if that makes sense, and yes there was a large percentage of pine back/chips in it. Maybe root mass like this is typical for larger maples? After chop sticking, root raking and garden hose washIng for what felt like forever I seemed to be removing more roots than loosening so I called it quits and decided to roll the dice for this season. The exterior 1” or so of the root ball is loose but the central mass of it, while able to absorb water, just wouldn’t give up any soil remaining. There ended up being a good 1.5” of root to pot clearance for root growth. Hopefully it survives to next year for another go at the roots. Maybe lopping off another inch or two off the bottom next year will slowly reduce the height of the root ball without harming the tree.


I was able to expose a bit more nebari and there might be a bit more flare down there I will also go after during subsequent work.

Now I can sit with fingers crossed on improving the trees health and stare at it planning where to take it structurally over the next few years.

Thanks for everyone’s input and advice.
-Ian