Transplanting shimpakus

[Woody Carverton]

All my trees are container grown 2-3 gallon, good soil, very healthy, heavy foliage. After taken in all advice about transplanting , u made very clear, not a problem (use good judgement). Here's the deal, I planned on heavy wiring, thinning and refinement this month( Jan), will it be to much stress to transplant and work the tree at one time or spread it out and if so what guideline of a time frame. My better judgement tells me spread it out, pick one or the other. . No pics, had trouble trying to send earlier?, have to try another time. So if I could get your opinion Id appreciate it , thanks

You will be fine to wire, and trim the roots on those trees. Although the tree will probably survive just going at it, I would recommend that after wiring you only remove about 40% of the roots this first go around, then give it 2 full growing seasons to recover before trimming the roots into their final size. The goal is to avoid shocking the tree into producing juvenile foliage. The tree (actually a shrub but who cares about the semantics) would survive a lot of torture without dying, but producing juvenile foliage consumes nearly 75% more of the trees stored energy than mature foliage as the tree puts more energy into converting sugars to produce elevated levels of a hormone called auxin which expedites growth. That means that you will stunt the growth of your shimpaku's heavily for a few growing seasons as your tree is more worried about surviving than growing and it knows juvenile foliage is more likely to survive harsher conditions.

TL;DR : You can wire your tree and trim the roots too, just don't trim the roots more than 30-40% unless you want to stunt your growth for the next few years.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

All my trees are container grown 2-3 gallon, good soil, very healthy, heavy foliage. After taken in all advice about transplanting , u made very clear, not a problem (use good judgement). Here's the deal, I planned on heavy wiring, thinning and refinement this month( Jan), will it be to much stress to transplant and work the tree at one time or spread it out and if so what guideline of a time frame. My better judgement tells me spread it out, pick one or the other. . No pics, had trouble trying to send earlier?, have to try another time. So if I could get your opinion Id appreciate it , thanks

If you are new to bonsai, I recommend you either work the top (anytime now through spring), or work the roots (spring, just as the tree breaks dormancy), and delay the other project for a year. Margin of error increases with experience, but it's always best to work in the correct season. If I lived in TX, I would never consider repotting a shimpaku in summer.

 

[Ezell]

Alright men, you answered my questions and explained it very well. That is what I was wanting. The percentages, time frame, you nailed it for me. I'm actually not in any hurry to get any "shrub" in final destination. But you make perfect sense to me when express root reductions, do a % and leave alone for a couple seasons. So that tells me get started now and keep the shrub in balance trying to avoid juvenile growth , stunting (shocking) and overall health of shrub. Thanks guys, I've got a long term plan now, it's what i was looking for. This takes a trial and error out of my equation and gives me confidence in steps moving forward. Back to work.

 

[Eric Group]

Those are some nice looking stock! Where did you say you found them?

Junipers are pretty damn tough IMO. I have yet to find a bad season to repot them around here... pretty mild climate overall... hot summers but heat doesn't seem to bother them... and they sure don't mind cold either! Mine seem to grow all winter... slower but they still push. I am repotting trees, now. We probably won't have much winter left... barely had any at all this year... going to be 60-70+ everyday for as far as the forecast shows... so why not?

For those, I recommend listening to Brian just to be safe. No need to get all groggy and kill a nice tree. Repot this year? Style next year. Style this year? Repot next year...

 

[Ezell]

Brian I just read your advice about the Texas climate. This gives more assurance, less is better and timing is as critical, take steps accordingly, patience will pay off and the rest will fall into place. You also answered another important question I asked, can I work the shrub or the roots.
Again one at a time, steps. Thanks man

 

[Ezell]

You ask about stock, Chikugo-en nursery.
I will agree , winter has been mild, juniper's are pushing.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Very different climate here. I would thin out dull not growing foliage so light and air can penetrate in the tree. Then i would repot in spring (HBR) but junipers are not that fussy. It is great material, beside literati always look for the shortest tree possible. That is something to worry about next year, when you branch select and style the tree. You have time to figure the future of the trees out. Thinning now will make you more familiar with the trees, and you might see new options.