Degs

well 2 hours later and im done.

I had no larger tub so i repotted back into the same pot. i used a layer of course gravel, a mix of pumice and sphagnum moss, to top off pure akadama. I would say it was 60% akadama 20% gravel and 10% pumice and moss each.

I lifted the tree carefully and the soil at either of the far ends crumbled away. I started to carefully work at the soil and the soil came away very easily, there are alot of fine feeder roots and many plump white tips. After 15 mins id managed to take away 90% of the soil with literally no torn or lost roots. There was some very minor loss, but no where near as much as I thought there would be.

I could get through to the rootball way way easier than any other repot ive tackled. I did not prune any roots at all, I gently combed out and replaced, wired in and worked in the akadama.

John, I paid very close attention to the rootball. I inspected very carefully and had a good sniff around the earth and root mass, there was absolutely no dead, decayed roots, nor was there any smell other than the earth smell. All I could see was a very healthy, but limited root system, there was just not as many roots I was expecting to see for a tree I had assumed was left in the soil for a year or 2.

I am about to start defoliating as suggested. This is not something i've tried before, and always assumed to keep the leaves as they would nourish the tree while it is growing roots. However, i'm very new to this so will follow the respected advice given.

I have some superthrive but I understand it has mixed reviews. Should I use it? also, i've read conflicting opinions about waiting a month to 6 weeks to fertilize, against fertilizing a weak solution shortly after a repot.

I will follow the advice, I would like to see some of the opinions on here on the above questions.

I've got my fingers crossed at the moment, I hope it survives at least to apologise for giving me a back ache after bending over for 2 hours while working on it. (only had a low table to work on!!!)

Degs