bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Alternative Lifestyle, California Juniper

The Discovery

Once a suitable plant is found, it requires removal from the ground to take it back home, after all that is why you came here in the first place. I start digging a trench around the plant at the canopies drip line. I start inching the shovel in and prune away large roots as I start to work my way under the plant. I like to dig completely under the plant and cut away any large roots under the plant with a saw or loppers. I resist the temptation to rock the plant or try prying it up with the shovel as this breaks roots and breaks up the root ball prematurely. Once the plant is free of the ground, I start to remove the field soil from the rooted areas. As the soil is removed I wrap the roots in wet sphagnum moss. I take a wrap with the packaging wrap, and secure the bundle as I work around the root ball. Once I have all the roots encased in moss and plastic, I wrap the entire root area with about 20 layers of shrink-wrap to preserve the entire root area in a damp moss covering. I suspect the plant could be kept this way for about a week, by watering thru the plastic if need be.