Potential for disaster?

B0N5A1

Today I finally got a chance to go to my local bonsai nursery to get hold of the bonsai compost i needed to repot the Jade I had which had lost a lot of its original soil and became very very loose in its pot, falling out on a few occasions.

I bought the Akadema which I have heard is meant to be a pretty good product. The guy who runs the bonsai section recomended it as it is his choice for when he repots the tree's he sells and tree's customers bring to him to repot.

I had read about how to repot and got all of what I thought I would need while i was there, Sieves and mesh to cover the holes etc. I originally had a bit of trouble getting the jade anchored to the pot because the roots were mosty fine delcate roots and i was scared of damaging them.

To cut to the chase, I think I done the rest of the process ok, but then I remembered one vital part I forgot. I forgot to use a chopstick to "poke" the soil into the space between the roots.

Is this going to be a serious problem? If so what do you recommend I do? I thought it would be too stressfull to take it out and do it again, but I am a little worried.

Advice would be much appreciated.

Tim

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waltr

You don't need to take it out of the pot, this is the last step. Just use a chop stick or a bamboo skew, insert into the soil and wiggle a little. This will get the soil to settle in and around the roots. If there is a space you will see the soil particles going down around the chopstick. With a little practice you will be able to feel a pocket when inserting the chop stick. Add more soil as needed and continue until the soil feels firm.

BunjinEnt

Not sure if it will be all that critical for a Jade, but Waltr's suggestion is a good one.


-Wm

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treebeard55

Something else I do -- besides what Waltr and Ent have told you -- is to gently tap the pot, round and round, with a rubber mallet. This also helps settle the soil into any open spaces.

Please note that I said "gently."

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Treebeard 55

"To do bunjin is easy. However, to do a bunjin masterpiece is difficult." -- Susumu Nakamura, at MBS '07