Ground Layering Can Help

jhill

Here is a false cypress I have been working on for the last few years. When I first got this tree it was not in that good of condidtion. It was potted in old field soil that was really compacted and the roots were way to high for my liking. So I notched out around the trunk down to the cambium and applied some hormones and repotted it deeper in the pot,(after removing all the old field soil of course) and placed spagnum moss all around the trunk to help keep the ground layer moist. I then just let it grow for the following year. This is what it looked like when I purchased it. Notice how ugly the root base was at the time??

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jhill

Here is the tree after I did the initial root work and repotted deeper in the same grow pot. I was keeping my fingers crossed for the following year hoping the ground layer worked.

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jhill

This is what it looked like today when I remove it from the pot. You can see that there were tons of small feeder roots. Keeping my fingers crossed must of worked. I combed out the lower roots and pruned them up to almost to the ground layer area. I then carefully comed out the top roots. I turned the tree upside down and cut off all the big ugly roots that were below the layer and applied more hormones and potted into its new home.

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jhill

And this is what I ended up with.

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Jonny D

hi, Thats a huge improvement, I'm sure your pleased with yourself as well you should be. how much did you cut the old trunk back underneath once the process had completed during repotting?

Jonny.

TreeBay

This is a fantastic tree - it really looks like a cypress! I'd like to see it down another 1/2 inch or so in the pot. By its shape, it is obviously growing in an open field, not a little mountain! By keeping the base of those roots covered, you'll get more laterals closer to the surface.

Regards,

Matt

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David Chauvin

Great result! Thanks for sharing this technique.

Thanks Again,

David

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jhill

Johnny, I cut probably 3/4 of the existing annoying exposed roots. I would have taken them all off to the ground layer but there was a couple of those roots that had small roots with alot of feeder roots. So I left them till next repot.

Answer to Matts question is at the next repot I will go in and take the last bit of the big ugly roots underneath to the ground layer, by then the ground layer roots will have become very strong and I can get it even lower in the pot.

Thanks David for the kind words

John

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TreeBay

Matt whispers: BTW - keep this tree far, far away from workshops with certain folks who have no idea what a real bonsai is!

Regards,

Matt

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