At 06:05 PM 5/10/03 -0700, MartyWeiser wrote:
Brent,

A very good point with regards to beginners and those with few trees - we
all need some bonsai that look good or are at least on a path we can see to
looking good. I guess we should encourage folks to inspect the roots,
remove those that circle, loosen the edges, and repot into a larger diameter
pot in the spring after they initially style the tree. They should also
plan to work on the roots periodically as they style the tree. Finally, I
would encourage beginners to buy a low cost maple or similar tree that will
take severe root pruning (do you have some suggestions?) and do a full root
pruning with washing to learn about the process. If the tree lives they
have learned and started a tree on the path with good roots. If it does
not, they are not out much money and have also learned what is too much.

Marty

It's odd, but for years I didn't really pay much attention to the
aesthetics of roots. I only wanted healthy roots so the plants would grow.
But the longer I stay in this business, the more particular I become
about roots, nebari, and graft unions. I'm not sure we can impart that
value on beginners, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Now, it is my standard practice to do some root work whenever I repot, not
only for bonsai in training, but for the thousands of common nursery plants
(I guess everything is prebonsai to some degree) that I grow. I have even
begun paying attention to root work in transpanting seedlings, new
cuttings, and new grafts. It has cost me some plants too, but the survivors
are much more valuable. In general, at every repotting, I try to remove as
much of the old soil as possible, and will even hose off evey last speck of
it, if conditions are appropriate. This allows me a complete inspection of
the roots. At the very least, I untangle the roots, correct crossing and
circling roots, rake out small surface feeder roots, and spread the roots
radially when repotting. This doubles or triples the time it takes to
repot, but as I said, the product is so much better, and it makes me feel
better. Just a couple thousand more to go.

I have said it here befo I have one nearly ironclad rule of root
pruning- Remove only ONE large offending root at each repotting. You can
almost always get away with this if you are repotting sensibly, that is, in
the correct season, on heathy plants, and with correct aftercare. Wholesale
root carnage will almost always get you in trouble unless you absolutely
know what you're doing.

As for practice plants, most nurseries sell green Japanese maple seedlings,
Acer palmatum for a reasonable price. A nice big one gallon plant shouldn't
cost more than about $10 and probably a lot less. At this time of the year
(May and early June in N. hemisphere), you can whack these pretty good.
There is still enough time in the season for them to recover. You can trunk
chop it (you should remove nearly all the foliage in one way or another)
and immediately unpot it and do extensive root work. Removing half the
roots is usually pretty safe. Repot with good bonsai type soil, put it in
SHADE, and leave it there for the rest of the season, don't prune anything
off, it needs the new growth to regenerate the root system. Do this as root
lesson, not a styling lesson, resist the urge to pinch, bend, wire, or cut.
Be prepared for it to DIE, do this as a training exercise only, but you may
be pleasantly surprised. Other maples that respond well to this treatment
are Hedge Maple, Acer campestre, and Trident Maple, Acer buergerianum, but
these are harder to find in nurseries.



Brent in Northern California
Evergreen Gardenworks USDA Zone 8 Sunset Zone 14

http://www.EvergreenGardenworks.com

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