I decided to take Bill's advice & repot my Shimpaku. Bill's climate is
similar to mine, & he knows the tree personally. The tree is all wired up, & I just
left the wires on. They will come off in February. I left the root ball pretty
much intact. It is composed of the original nursery soil. There weren't any
roots elsewhere. I poked some holes in the root ball with a chopstick. I used a
round pot by Nick Lenz, a little bigger than the previous one. I put some
conifer mix on the bottom, & filled in with regular mix. I added mycorrhiza. The
tree will be left in the shade until it shows signs of growth.
For those anxious to dispel a myth: the problem of perched water table does
not occur in bonsai soil. It would only occur in layers of very fine soil
particles. So if you think you need a drainage layer, go ahead & use one.
Iris

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