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Thanks.

That's actually very similar to what I ended up deciding to do. Instead of sticking it in the ground I stuck it in a pot about 4 times larger than the current one.

When I took it out of the pot, I ended up removing some of the bottom roots. A little ways up, I finally started seeing soil. That soil was bone dry. I submerged the whole root ball in a big ole bucket of water. It bubbled like crazy for a few mins. It bubbled out the side and not the top, which I thought was weird (and probably not good), but at least I know the whole root system got watered this time.

So now it's sitting in a gigantic pot which it'll stay in for at least a year on top of and surrounded by fresh soil. Early next spring I will do the first of what I guess will be a few major root prunings.

Which leads me to my next question. How much of the roots can I remove in the spring? There's all sorts of huge roots running around in there and the rest is loaded with zillions of tiny roots that are all interwoven and really hard.

14-Oct-2004	#6
Boingo bonsaiTALK Journeyman Join Date: Aug-2004 Posts: 14	Thanks. That's actually very similar to what I ended up deciding to do. Instead of sticking it in the ground I stuck it in a pot about 4 times larger than the current one. When I took it out of the pot, I ended up removing some of the bottom roots. A little ways up, I finally started seeing soil. That soil was bone dry. I submerged the whole root ball in a big ole bucket of water. It bubbled like crazy for a few mins. It bubbled out the side and not the top, which I thought was weird (and probably not good), but at least I know the whole root system got watered this time. So now it's sitting in a gigantic pot which it'll stay in for at least a year on top of and surrounded by fresh soil. Early next spring I will do the first of what I guess will be a few major root prunings. Which leads me to my next question. How much of the roots can I remove in the spring? There's all sorts of huge roots running around in there and the rest is loaded with zillions of tiny roots that are all interwoven and really hard.