Camellia Bonsai Repot (long)

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This proved to be wise because as you can see the drainage screens were firmly attached to the rootball and they popped right out with it.

You can see that the health of the root system appears to be perfect and that the pot is filled with white fibrous roots.

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Here the whole tree has been removed and you can see that the crown of the tree and its roots were in balance. To a large degree the strength of the root system defines the health of the tree.

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The rootball is broken open by working from the perimeter and beneath with the root hook, chopstick and sickle.

Digging in a bit, beyond the exterior section of bonsai soil, we can see that some of the original fine textured "potting type" soil remains. This is superior to field soil or clay, but it the roots are healthiest where they are able to get air and moisture.

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The sickle (on the right) and root cutters on the left are used to reduce the root ball. We want the root system to be shallow and want to encourage the development of the root base by removing those roots that grow directly downward, particularly the large "tap root" structures that are often found immediately beneath the tree.

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After cutting back the feeder roots from the bottom of the tree we see the area underneath is clogged with "potting soil" and there are very few feeder roots in this area. Several large roots emerge from this area and are pruned back, leaving some white stubs.

At this point it would be most expedient to use a hose and sprayer to clear away the potting soil. It could also be done by chopstick, but that would be time consuming and potentially more injurous to the remaining roots.

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After flushing away the bulk of the original potting soil we see a large root stub remains that can be reduced.

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We also look at the perimeter of the tree and discover a few large circling roots.

Not the latex gloves I am using here. These are really indispensible and I recomment that you pick up a pack of these. It's so much easier to get your hands clean again, the soil and pumice doesn't cut your hands and if you need to answer the phone or pick up a camera, it take just a minute to slip them off and dry your hands.

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These roots are healthy, but the development is very messy. They were allowed to grow out and spiral around the trunk base. We can't correct it entirely at this time, but we can improve things a bit.

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A few long and thick roots that emerge at odd angles are cut away from the root base.

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