Most of my bonsai are developed from nursery stock.
Even stock I have purchased from some bonsai nurseries
(not Brent) have been pot bound. Some of my stuff
that I don't get to is pot bound.
My process is to take a couple of years or more to get
the plant ready to be bonsai or even pre-potensai.
Depending on the plant, I use the larger roots for
root cuttings. I don't bare root on the first
transplant. I just cut the root ball back, take out
some pie shaped wedges of roots, and pot. I do look
for dead root areas to eliminate. In a couple of
repots, removing alternate pie shaped wedges, I
eventually get a nice root mass.
My best example of this is an olive that I got at a
nursery going out of business sale. It was about 15"
to 20" tall in a 15" gallon can. Left about 10" of
the tree at the nursery so I could gt it in my car. I
got it some 15-16 years ago. I put it into a bonsai
pot a couple of years ago. It took that much time to
get a new top developed and to get the root mass cut
back.
My current project is battling some cedar elms that
not only were pot bound, but gangly. I have started
the root cuttings and divided the stump into a couple
of sections. Talk about roots being tangled! The are
all sitting in pots doing nicely at this time. I plan
to airlayer next year after the trees heal from their
current, but well meant abuse.
Kitsune Miko
=====
"Art does not take kindly to facts, is helpless to grapple with theories, and is killed outright by a sermon." Agnes Ropplier
(added to the above)
"How many things in life do we bludgeon with facts, render helpless
with theories, and kill with sermons? If art can help us go beyond
these patterns, we certainly need it in our lives."
Anne Wilson Schaef
From, "Women Who Do Too Much Calandar 2004."
************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail
+++++