Unusual Repotting Projects ‘25
A photo essay of notable repots this year, with comments.
A Styrax air-layer ready to separate. The roots were getting tight in the small pot.
And a new bonsai is born.
Will pots up the baby in a training pot.
This is the Cryptomeria shown in the 2024 Pacific Bonsai Expo which won best in show.
The underview. Dense roots.
Another project in a Seasonal workshop was digging into the rootball of this Ponderosa Pine.
Evan excavates mucky mountain soil while leaving areas of root / pumice intact.
A young Quaking Aspen grove.
Downward view to see trunk relationships. We decided to reassemble this one, as we did with a recent Vine Maple.
Again looking down at the trunk placements.
A hillock rise in a forest can help give additional dominance to the larger trees.
Brock brought in this quirky piece of welding to serve as a container for a Lodgepole Pine.
Brock also brought aluminum mesh and some really fancy magnets—permanent Neodymium magnets rated at 65 lbs—to create a basket for the soil mass to rest in.
A Japanese Maple clump with an awkward trunk. This is the first step to removing it, cutting a wedge out. The rest will be nibbled away over the next year to prevent part of the root system from dying off.
This Chinese Quince had to be forcibly removed from its container, which had cracked with the swelling root mass.
The root grafts on this Trident Maple were ready to be cut off. Last year the little trunklets got tourniquets in preparation for this. Here I must admit something. The trunklet to the far left ended up not being a Trident—our supplier got creative, and we didn’t notice the difference either and grafted it. It’s an Amur Maple. Very curious to see if that graft works.
12 Comments
Very exciting. After working on that styrax, it’s making me very excited about air layers. Patch said it quickly jumped up the list of his favorites in the garden!
Hey, are apprentices allowed to have favorites??
Hi Will!
We haven’t determined that yet. Our micromanaging is engaged with other tasks. If you check in later we may have a more satisfying answer ; )
Love seeing what you guys are up to.
Thanks Steven!
Awesome work as always Michael! What’s the purpose of the tourniquets prior to cutting off the grafts?
Thanks Jacob! The tourniquets gets the vascular system of the scion onto the idea that flow is going to be taken over by the host plant, not its own. In other words, in this case, the leaves and trunk and all will be the host plant, with the graft only doing the root job. The wire slowly chokes off the part that will be cut off soon.
Thank you for your continued contributions.
Your work goes noted.
Many permutations of what can be done. These little bonsai amuse-bouche of life at farm makes leaves me ravenous for more.
I’ll have to read your books again to fulfill my cravings of Crataegus related knowledge.
Be well,
Mats
Thanks Mats! I like the amuse-bouche idea of blog writing / sharing. You can get your teeth around it without bulging the cheeks or eyes.
Do you uncover as many walnuts as I do when repotting?
Ha! Yes. And hazelnuts. A popular crop here in the Willamette Valley.
Nice contraption for the lodgepole . That’s going to be amazing in 10 years or so .
How easy did you find styrax in terms of air layering ? You are making strong points for getting us readers hooked onto styrax just like Chojubai .
Did you do emergency repot for the Chinese quince since it had leafed out ?
Uh-oh… not another obsession! They are fun. The energy of the plant resembles trident maple. The growth habit is not as elegant, more right-angly, but can be managed.
We put the chinese quince in a smaller pot. Also like trident they are so strong you can repot them a little late, when the buds have opened a bit.