kompik

I've read about how the delicate feeder roots and their fragile root hairs are the most crucial part of the root system and most directly impact the health of a tree (which is why you want your tree firmly anchored in it's pot, so it doesn't move around in the soil after you've planted it), yet time and again I see demos of people repotting bonsai and raking the living daylights out of the root system to loosen it up, get it untangled, and get the soil out of it. Doesn't going at it with such vigor utterly demolish the feeder roots and their root hairs?

I read somewhere that using a strong jet from a garden hose sprayer to blast the soil out of the roots was preferable because it was far gentler on the roots than a root hook or fork. Since I'm no horticulturalist, but I'm interested in learning all I can about how trees work, I'd like to know why rough treatment of the roots, though counter-intuitive, is the conventional practice? How do those poor, tender roots recover from such brutality?

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