On 7 Mar 2005 at 15:11, Scooter the Mighty wrote:

I found this really cool rock that I want to use to do a root-over-rock
style bonsai with. With this in mind, I went out and bought a chinese
elm. When I got it home and took it out of the pot though, the roots
were so overgrown that they were like one of those things you scrub
your dishes with. I tried squirting the root ball with a hose to try
and wash some of the dirt out of it, but after 20 minutes of that it
still just looked like a bunch of roots compressed into the shape of a
pot. There was no way I was going to be able to untangle the roots
without ripping half of them.

What should I do? Plant it in the ground for a year and let the roots
losen up? Or will that not help anything?

You don't say how large your elm is, but they are VERY tough
trees.

If it's a decent size tree, comb out the soaking wet roots with
your fingers. If some or many roots break off, it won't matter
at this time of year. If it's a small, skinny tree, plant it
outside for 4-5 years.

Next coat the stone with muck -- mud with a lot of peat mixed in
-- really slather it on. Separate the roots over the rock and
press them into the muck, hopefully with some heavy roots on all
sides. Be sure some of the root ends hang down below the rock.
Then slather more on over the top and plant rock and all into a
pot filled with bonsai soil. Plant the rock fairly deep. Root
over rock takes a few years.

If your wife/girlfriend/mother has an old pair of pantyhose, cut
it up and wrap the rock with the panty hose. Tie it on with
some kind of organic (cotton, raffia, hemp, etc.) string, then
treat the whole thing like a regular bonsai. The top of the
tree undoubtedly will want fairly hard pruning in 3-4 weeks and,
like all elms pinching every day thereafter.

In a couple of years, the muck will wash away from the rock and
you should find nice roots clinging to it.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson





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