Chinese Elm repotting

Boingo

Hi.

I live in CT. I guess that's zone 6? Anyways, it's fall now and it's starting to get a little colder at night.

I bought a decent sized Chinese Elm a couple of months ago from a nursery. It's in a 1 gallon bucket. It's completely rootbound and the top of the soil is hard as a rock. Water seeps in, but VERY slowly. When I bought it there were some smaller branches that were dried out and dead. I cleaned it up, removed all the little dried out branches and put it outside.

Two months later, the same portion that had the dried branches originally, has some more smaller branches drying out. This isn't happening anywhere else on the tree. The rest of the tree is doing great.

It definitely needs to be repotted. I was going to leave it til Spring, but that portion of the tree that has smaller branches drying out is worrying me. Like water isn't able to reach part of the roots for some reason. I even tried a submersion watering, but that didn't fix it.

I'm trying not to fidget with my trees too much, or do things at the wrong time of year, which is why I wanted to leave it til Spring. My natural inclination is to do something (anything) to fix it, but I've heard that's not always best when dealing with trees.

But with a portion drying out while the rest is doing great, should I repot it now? Or will that do more damage with winter and colder weather coming up soon?

Hope that made sense.

Thanks.

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jloeschner

First off, let me say that I am fairly new to bonsai, as well, so please base my advice on that. Second, I am NOT new to taking care of plants, in general, sooo...anyway, if the tree is dying in its present state, I would think that any effort would be better than none. Based on my experience, slip potting could help your tree. I slip potted my chinese elm in August because it, too, was overly rootbound. It never missed a step, and is doing great. I would think that as long as you do NOT trim any roots, it will be ok to plant it into a larger pot, which would give it more growing room. Also be sure to use a good, free-draining soil that will allow the roots to get plenty of water without holding so much water that the roots rot. Chinese elms are very hardy trees and can take a lot of abuse, so slip potting should do it wonders.

If you do trim the roots, you must take care that the tree doesn't get too cold this winter. I have been told that these trees can be kept indoors, but special care has to be taken when doing so. You might research that option if you choose to trim the roots...just my opinion.

Regards,
John

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Boingo

I can't trim the roots. The whole rootball is one big, hard, block. It's in the shape of the container and doesn't move. The sides and bottom of the rootball are just like the top. Rock hard and completely unyielding. I'd have to hack off whole chunks of roots.

I have a pot here that's a good size larger than it's current pot. I will try repotting into that for the winter. Give the roots some room.

I have a question about the soil now, though.

Right now, if i water the top, the water just pools up and runs to the side of the pot. It VERY slowly seeps in.

If I put it in a bigger pot, and add a fast draining soil under and around the rootball, won't the water just run to the side, and drain out without reaching the interior of the roots?

burtonrider31

yes.

BillStruhar

I guess we all know you're looking at a Silent Spring if you don't do something constructive, but that means repotting a tree at the exact wrong time of the year. I'd say, put it in the ground as it is, next spring, when it has lots of buds ready to explode into action, dig it up, prune the roots to where they should be, and replant in the ground. In spring, 2006, pot it up into a pot appropriate to the then existing root system. Such are the wages of procrastinators.

Boingo

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.

BillStruhar

There are three kinds of roots. All roots start out as feeder roots or rootlets. They grow or elongate by adding cells at their tips, and absorb N, P, & K, etc. Feeder roots grow up to be trunk roots, which are pipelines that convey up to the leaf surfaces what the feeders absorb. Anchor roots are big, old, trunk roots which serve to hold the tree in the soil. Trunk and Anchor roots also serve as reservoirs during the off-season. Feeder roots are more important to us Professional Bonsaiists than the other two because we substitute our own kinds of anchoring mechanisms, and we don’t want trunk roots wandering far-apot (or, far-afield, either). If you have lots of feeders, you don’t hardly need any anchors or trunks. As a rule, you remove any trunks and anchors which will not affect the remaining feeders. It is paramount that you follow the trunk/anchor roots from their fattest point out to their ends to see that- for sure- all those little feeder roots ARE NOT connected to the ends of the trunk/anchor roots. If they are, then you have to remove a lot less big roots, for obvious reasons.

ksbonsai

I've had similar problems with purchased plants. What I have done with some success is take a chop stick or other suitable probe (phillips screwdriver works too) and carefully work it in from the top. This will create pathways for water to enter the rootball while doing a minimal amount of damage to the feeder roots.

Boingo

Thanks. That's a good idea. I think I'm gonna try that. Can't use a chopstick on this one, but I have a little metal spike type thing.

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