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Originally Posted by RedTingle
Fly, when repotting Eucs do you try to spread the roots out into a more horizontal fashion just under the topsoil or leave them in their tubestock near vertical style?
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Gday Red!
It is best to try to get the horizontal root spread started early in the training of a Eucalypt, but ofttimes the roots of tubestock will be too stiff or brittle to allow you to shape them much. This is where the trimming of all the thicker tap-style roots can help, as it can force the tree to grow roots further up towards the trunk base. If you can achieve a nice radial flare with your young material, then go for it by all means. (In the
project I've started with the aforementioned
Corymbia citriodora seedlings, achieving radially spaced roots is not a concern for each individual tree.)
Regarding the placement of the roots "just under the topsoil", I'd be careful to keep at least 10mm of soil on top of young, developing roots: the key here is to provide your surface roots with as much protection and moisture as possible, so that they grow in favour of more opportunistic tap-style roots. I find that a generous serve of coarse sand or fine gravel applied as a mulch helps greatly in keeping surface roots cool and moist.
Thanks and good luck!
* * *
So, I finally got around to removing the air-layer I started
back here. Upon inspection of the layer site, I found that much of the wounded trunk was bridging over again, but the roots which had formed prevented me from getting in and re-re-stripping the trunk. Perhaps I could have left it in place longer (as viewed in the 3rd pic), but I wanted to get the layer off and give it a couple months of growing on its own before Winter hits. Also, by removing the layer now, I have a much better chance of controlling the development of surface roots than I would if I had waited until next Spring.
[1] The layer as removed from the lower trunk. For such a top-heavy form, the roots' hold on the pot and medium gives it good stability. You can see at the top that I have removed a good portion of growth and foliage, so the tree can better cope with its newly reduced root system.
[2] The layer still holding its own, even without the support of the little pot.
[3] A detail of the new roots: as mentioned above, more roots would have been better, but I'm fairly happy with this result. Note the red cracks in the main bark: these indicate that the layer has been growing vigorously above the parent tree.
I have since placed the layer (sphagnum and all) into a larger pot with some Bonsai soil. I will probably remove more top growth today in order to better balance the foliage with the roots. Pics to follow.
Thanks.
Fly.