"Ian J Robinson" wrote in message
...
I have been told that once the tree gets a circumference around the largest
part of the butt then rather than re-pot it I should set about clipping the
roots back!
Does this represent the correct procedure?
TIA

Yup. with a young tree do it maybe every two years and an older tree should
go longer between prunes. Go carefully, and see if you can get in touch with
your local bonsai society for more advice. The basic idea is to prune back
older, thick, knotty and damaged roots. You will notice that when you repot
a plant there are lots of white 'feeder' tips at the bottom of the root
ball, attached to the finer roots. You want to maximise the number of fine
roots, and feeder tips, as old thick roots don't absorb nutrients. Go
carefully here, as some trees can withstand heavy root pruning, and others
will promptly curl up and die. What species is it, if i might ask?