Emergency repot

bonsaial1

I posted a detailed story about the history of this juniper some time back. The tree was reduced hard and put in the small shohin pot you see. The tree budded profusely this year, and I pinched back hard. While the tree seemed on its way to new heights, I am sorry to say that the tree has started to lose some vigor.

The tree after its first potting.

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While you cansee all the buds covering the tree, look close at the small branch above the lower one on the left. You can see that it is a little different color. I noticed this and started to react as soon as possible. I cut back on the water, thinking it might be root rot. While the tree improved, the tree was slowly losing vigor. I started to see some of the foliage on this small branch turn more brown and the dry in a few days. Now I needed to work fast. This is the time when you have to make a life or death decision. If I do nothing I felt that there was enough strength in the tree to possibly make it through the summer and then repot next spring. On the other hand, this whole tree is made from one branch coming from the right side of the tree. If I wait I may risk losing the whole tree due to the rot spreading to other parts of the tree.

I decided to repot now!! I found an old clay pot( the best for an emergency) and filled it with pure 1/8" red lava. I took the tree and lifted it from the bonsai pot. The root ball fell apart somewhat due to being planted in akadama and lava with some turface. I settled the tree in the clay pot and firmed up the plant in this new pot. I made a batch of B-1 water and throughly saturated the pot. I did this on Monday. So far the tree is doing OK, nothing is showing anysigns of folding up yet. The real test will be to see signs of new growth, and then I can sigh a breath of relief.

Bonsaial

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