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treebeard55 · 06-30-2008, 05:25 PM

Two weeks ago, at the conclusion of the MABA2008 convention in Indianapolis, I picked up a leftover Japanese black pine. It's 3 years old, field-grown, and had been in a nursery pot, in field soil, probably since early May (or whenever it was lifted from the field and sent off to Indy, with a bunch of others, for one of the convention workshops.)

I finally managed to get it repotted yesterday, after two weeks of it sitting on my bench, still in the field soil. When I depotted it, I found no feeder roots at all. They all had been amputated when the tree was dug. The smallest roots I found were a little thinner than a pencil.

On the positive side, I saw no sign of root rot. And the tree has been growing merrily all along, pushing out new spring growth.

I potted it in a 3:2:1 mix of Turface, bark, and poultry grit, all particles between 2 and 3 mm. Mycorhizzal inoculant was added in as I went along. I removed about 1/3 of the foliage, including almost all the new candles (except for on the two low shoots I'm going to use to "build" my bonsai.)

I've got it where it gets only 3-4 hours of morning sun, and open shade the rest of the day. I'm going to use light foliar feeding, including of a 0-10-10 fert specififcally to promote root growth, and keep its ambient humidity as high as my circumstances allow.

My question: can anyone suggest any other measures I can take to help this tree thru the next several months? Any ideas will be appreciated, and carefully considered.

Thanks in advance.

06-30-2008, 05:25 PM	#1 (permalink)
treebeard55 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Warsaw IN, USA USDA zone 5b Posts: 510	JBP needs critical care Two weeks ago, at the conclusion of the MABA2008 convention in Indianapolis, I picked up a leftover Japanese black pine. It's 3 years old, field-grown, and had been in a nursery pot, in field soil, probably since early May (or whenever it was lifted from the field and sent off to Indy, with a bunch of others, for one of the convention workshops.) I finally managed to get it repotted yesterday, after two weeks of it sitting on my bench, still in the field soil. When I depotted it, I found no feeder roots at all. They all had been amputated when the tree was dug. The smallest roots I found were a little thinner than a pencil. On the positive side, I saw no sign of root rot. And the tree has been growing merrily all along, pushing out new spring growth. I potted it in a 3:2:1 mix of Turface, bark, and poultry grit, all particles between 2 and 3 mm. Mycorhizzal inoculant was added in as I went along. I removed about 1/3 of the foliage, including almost all the new candles (except for on the two low shoots I'm going to use to "build" my bonsai.) I've got it where it gets only 3-4 hours of morning sun, and open shade the rest of the day. I'm going to use light foliar feeding, including of a 0-10-10 fert specififcally to promote root growth, and keep its ambient humidity as high as my circumstances allow. My question: can anyone suggest any other measures I can take to help this tree thru the next several months? Any ideas will be appreciated, and carefully considered. Thanks in advance. __________________ Treebeard 55 Steve Moore http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com The most important bonsai tool is your brain.