Repotting Troubles - bonsaiTALK Community

2-May-2004	#1
thejimmyrigger bonsaiTALK stick figure. Join Date: Feb-2004 Location: Gloucester, MA Country: US USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 225	Repotting Troubles Dear high stamina reader, I just visited New England Bonsai for the first time about a week ago (it was awesome, but that's for another post). I picked up three trees: a ficus too little (8 inch pot), a dwarf schefflera (4 inch pot), and a catlin elm (5 inch pot). My problem is that they are all in terrible soil. The schefflera is in a solid spongelike mass, I don't think there is any soil in the pot anymore, 4 ounces of water takes 20 min to soak in. The elm's soil is decent (meaning it will accept water, and dry out). The ficus appeared to be in a similiar soil to the elm. I decided to repot the ficus first as it is the toughest of the trio. I let the soil get nicely dried and dug in. As i reached the middle of the root ball, the soil was still sopping wet, there's a funky tap root down there too. Water could be sqeezed out like a sponge. Trying to be gentle I combed softly at the stuff, but was still tearing out feeder roots. So I stopped there and put in the "house blend" they sold (all I could afford). Now my poor tree has a 5 inch ball of muck surrounded by good soil (now in a 10 inch pot) A (hopefully) decent amount of roots sit in good soil, whats in the mud, only the tree knows. Is this ok for now? If I don't do any styling can I finish the repot later this season? Should I prepare for the death of my first and favorite tree? After the horror of the ficus I'm a bit nervous about the elm and schefflera. The schefflera I know will be a mess, as it is growing roots straight out of the "soil". The elm, by the way has blacK spots on some leaves, but a profuse amount of new growth. All are outside on my morning sun porch, the Ficus and Schefflera come in on chilly nights. I'm a nervous guy, HELP! And thank you for all advice, jim

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2-May-2004	#2
TreeBay Tips:5¢ Advice:Free *MODERATOR GROUP* Join Date: Aug-2001 Location: Silicon Valley Country: USA USDA Zone: 9 AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 9,745	It can be hard to get all the field soil in the first repotting. Next time, you'll be able to work with more confidence. Trees can tolerate a lot. Regards, Matt __________________ Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today! bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

3-May-2004	#3
thejimmyrigger bonsaiTALK stick figure. Join Date: Feb-2004 Location: Gloucester, MA Country: US USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 225	Matt, Thanks for the self esteem boost, I thought I butchered it! The next trees I'll be doing after this rain ends. Maybe I can get my hands on a digital camera too. your de best, jim

3-May-2004	#4
FredL Banned 08JUN2005 Join Date: Dec-2001 Location: Benton County Country: USA USDA Zone: 6 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,099	Jim, a good way to go after soil that you're having a hard time removing is with a stream of water at fairly high pressure from your garden hose. I saw this technique several times in "Bonsai Today" and I use it alot. Fred

3-May-2004	#5
TreeBay Tips:5¢ Advice:Free *MODERATOR GROUP* Join Date: Aug-2001 Location: Silicon Valley Country: USA USDA Zone: 9 AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 9,745	That's a very good suggestion Fred. I usually don't use that particular method with pines because it isn't advisable to bare root the entire pine. But muck is not a desirable situation, either. Regards, Matt __________________ Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today! bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

5-May-2004	#6
thejimmyrigger bonsaiTALK stick figure. Join Date: Feb-2004 Location: Gloucester, MA Country: US USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 225	Fred Alright, I'll have to do that with the next two. Maybe with the ficus in the late summer, looking at that dirt is driving me nuts! Matt I'll remember not to do it on a pine, but I won't touch one 'till I've got these three doing well. Are pine roots more sensitive to open air? jim __________________ Jimmyrigging is much like jerryrigging, just go a bit lighter on the duct tape and wire coat hangers, and hit said broken item more. Remember: if it isn't broke don't kick it.

5-May-2004

RonMartin(deceased)

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Join Date: Jan-2003

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Re: Repotting Troubles

Quote:

Originally posted by thejimmyrigger
Dear high stamina reader,
I just visited New England Bonsai for the first time about a week ago (it was awesome, but that's for another post). I picked up three trees: a ficus too little (8 inch pot), a dwarf schefflera (4 inch pot), and a catlin elm (5 inch pot). My problem is that they are all in terrible soil. The schefflera is in a solid spongelike mass, I don't think there is any soil in the pot anymore, 4 ounces of water takes 20 min to soak in. The elm's soil is decent (meaning it will accept water, and dry out). The ficus appeared to be in a similiar soil to the elm.

And thank you for all advice,
jim

Well hate to say it but the first thing I would do is to find another place to buy my trees. New England Bonsai is usually pretty good but then bad is bad. And if you got them there then that is bad. Hate to say that but it is true, in this case at least.
All three trees can withstand rinsing off the soil with a stream of water. (In my climate at least) Then I would put them in a well draining soil. All should recover. They are pretty tough critters after all.

Last edited by Ron Martin : 5-May-2004 at 06:32 PM.

5-May-2004	#8
thejimmyrigger bonsaiTALK stick figure. Join Date: Feb-2004 Location: Gloucester, MA Country: US USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 225	To give them credit, they did have some awesome trees there, I just couldn't bring myself to risk killing excellent material (or my miniscule budget). Its just that it went downhill fast from the high potential stuff. It seems they scooped up the really nice stuff, trained it, and potted it up. Finding trees with massive, read: MASSIVE, wire scars was surprising though. Your just a zone or two up from me so I feel more comfident now. Which is my major problem. jim __________________ Jimmyrigging is much like jerryrigging, just go a bit lighter on the duct tape and wire coat hangers, and hit said broken item more. Remember: if it isn't broke don't kick it.