Root pruning

knupkid

Hello All!


I have a question concerning a japanese maple tree.
I bought the tree at a nursery and was about 5' tall and I trimmed it down to about 8". New foliage is exploding on the little thing. It budded quite early because it was in the basement.
It is currently in a two gallon bucket that i bought the tree in. I have not trimmed the roots yet because I want some good foilage but I dont want the leaves to get too big and the roots to get too thick either.
I want to trim the roots about half and let the tree develope in the bucket but what kind of soil do I put back into the bucket? Can I use potting soil? Or should I mix some basic soil?

Any suggestions.

Sorry I cant provide any pics

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pootsie

Hey Knupkid! Glad you finally came out of the shadows

You may want to lurk around some of the threads on soil discussion. Do a search for the word "haydite" and you'll find a lot of good info (and some bad info, so be a careful reader).

As to the roots, a maple can handle a good amount of root pruning. It might have been better to prune the roots before the leaves came out, but I think it can still handle a good hacking before it gets too bushy.

The roots can be shaped just like branches can. Do a search here for the word "nebari" to see what I mean.

rotsaruck!
pootsie

__________________
p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

Bonsainut

Knup,
I concur with my essteemed cat, I mean college from o-HI-o. I have had better luck in genaral with emergency root work after letting the new leaves harden off.

I understand your excitment, but you will be able to build a faster tree if you save the root work for next spring or even the next and concentrate on design and use the power in all those roots to construct some branch ramification.

Party on with your bad self !!

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Keep growing,---'Nut



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