Why not just leave nursery stock with full root ball?

[Bart99]

I've been looking at youtube videos of taking nursery stock and turning them into instant bonsai and they almost always chop the top down severely and then cut the root ball in half to start, and then use a hook to further break it apart and cut it back more for a bonsai pot.

I understand why you'd do that if you want something in a bonsai pot an hour after you brought it home, but what if that wasn't the goal? Is there anything wrong with cutting back the top of nursery stock and leaving all the roots intact? My thinking is that with more roots, the plant will recover faster, grow faster, and grow thicker faster. Is that wrong?

 

[rockm]

The top growth fuels the roots and vice versa. Removing one, slows the other. Just because there are more roots than top, doesn't necessarily guarantee that it will push more top growth faster or make the trunk thicker faster. When you chop the top, and leave the roots, most likely most likely you will simply get more buds and shoots on the trunk than accelerated development of the trunk itself.

 

[Adair M]

The answer is: it depends.

On your goals for the tree, the variety of the tree, what the current nebari confition is, what the soil is, the time of year, etc.

 

[aml1014]

As with everything in bonsai, it depends.
If the tree is of proper size to start refinement, you can put it into a pot. If it's still just stock and you have a ways to go you can definitely leave the roots alone. I almost always repot ASAP so I can get the tree into my soil mix, and out of the crappy nursery soil. Also you need to start the process of riding the tree of thick "anchoring" roots and get it to have fine feeder roots close to the trunk.

You'll need to learn how to treat each tree differently, depending on their stage of training.

Aaron

 

[Adair M]

All that said...

The key to healthy bonsai is a healthy root system. It does not matter if the top is perfect if the root system cannot sustain it.

So proper root work is essential. It's not the "sexy" part of bonsai. But it is arguably the most important part.

 

[Bart99]

Thanks folks! The specific trees I'm speaking of are some small azaleas that I picked up for cheap at a nursery. Is it too late in the year to hack apart the roots and put them in smaller containers? Not full on bonsai pots, but just shorter nursery pots.

 

[johng]

Thanks folks! The specific trees I'm speaking of are some small azaleas that I picked up for cheap at a nursery. Is it too late in the year to hack apart the roots and put them in smaller containers? Not full on bonsai pots, but just shorter nursery pots.

not at all!

 

[Giga]

not at all!

You still have a week or two to do that and azalea are tough and can take a root prune and top chop.

 

[GrimLore]

Not full on bonsai pots, but just shorter nursery pots.

An easier way and safe to start with on Azalea is to take a third of the top off and a third of the lower root off when you put it in a smaller nursery pot. Down the road you will see you can be far more extreme with them at the proper time but for starting out try as I suggested

Grimmy

 

[Bart99]

Thanks! I'll try that.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Also nursery pot soil is generally lousy for Bonsai growing.