Itowigawa Shimpaku-Pot selection

GaryS

What type of pot would you choose for this Juniper? It's still in the pot shown but I'd like to change it this spring.

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GaryS

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It's hard to beat an unglazed tokoname pot for a juniper.

Here is an example. I thought it would benefit from a few more "holes" in the foliage so that the negative space shows through, so I made a few spaces.

I think the pot could be a bit smaller than this one if the foliage were reduced some.

Regards,

Matt

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GaryS

Thanks Matt,
It looks good in the pot you chose. That picture is a couple of years old. Now that I found your site I need to scan some more recent photos of that Shimpaku. The last couple of years I have thinned it out quite a bit. It's a slow process with the Itowigawa. It's so much different than the regular Shimpaku's. If it's pruned to much at one time it reponds quite dramatically by throwing out all kinds of juvenile foliage.

This afternoon I worked on thinning it some more and got a little carried away. Just a little though. It's had too many inside branches so I cut some off and thinned the the rest. After some fine wiring it looks a whole lot better.

I have 2 Ito's that are about the same size (26&quot tall. The roots inside the rootball are like heavy wire and I need to thin them too. Any suggestions on cleaning out those heavy roots? I don't want to take to many out but the center of the rootball needs some air!

Here's a photo of the other one. It needs the same root treatment.

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GaryS

TreeBay

[quote:49a4fd5483]The roots inside the rootball are like heavy wire and I need to thin them too. Any suggestions on cleaning out those heavy roots? I don't want to take to many out but the center of the rootball needs some air!
[/quote:49a4fd5483]

After you comb out the exterior of the rootball, Remove some pie-shaped wedges around the circumference. That will preserve some of the long roots, yet let you get some new soil and feeder roots growing in near the base.

This is important for aeration and rejuvenation of the roots.

You may make more "slices" than shown in the diagram. This particular star was just a convenient shape to use.

A Repotting Sickle (sodcutter) is the ideal tool to use for this project, but a sharp, serrated knife can be substituted. We have some sickles on the TreeBay Bonsai Tools & Supplies site. You'll find them on this page

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