new stock replanted today

xerophyte_nyc

I spent several hours today, removing mail-order nursery stock from mainly 1 gal containers, de-tangling roots, hacking away at thick, kinky, roots, and repotting into larger 2-gal containers with fresh mix (cedar mulch + peat moss + perlite + a tad of topsoil).

Mainly working on tridents, elms, hornbeams, zelkovas, a stewartia and coast redwoods.

I would say on average I removed about 30-40% of the root balls. The trees are now sitting in my garage, where they will (hopefully) recouperate over the next 10-14 before being gradually exposed to the outdoors.

One of the tridents and the stewartia appear to be on the way to budding, so I'll move them to a bright spot if needed.

This is my first attempt at root pruning nursery stock for growing out. I cut extra large holes in the pots, and they will be partially submerged under good garden soil, so the roots can escape and allow the trees to add mass over the next 1-2 yrs before I repot and prune again.

Everyone always says that the nebari should be worked on ASAP, so that was my goal with today's work. Time will tell if I pruned too much and some trees may not survive. Live and learn.

Looking back, I really mangled a 5-gal redwood, it would've been useless as a chokkan (which is what I want) unless I chopped it down to the 1 inch of trunk that remains. We'll see how tough they really are, or aren't.

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