Can I come hang out at your pool?
Nice job on the pruning.
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BewilderedGreenyO.o
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 471
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:02 am
- Location: San Bernardino Mountains, California
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BewilderedGreenyO.o
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 471
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:02 am
- Location: San Bernardino Mountains, California
whelp ... I did it... I root pruned my Japanese Boxwood 
It was super scary and hopefully my lil' Boxy will pull through it 
It took a long time and ran into some things that I really wasn't really expecting like... worms! 
... not being able to easily get to the base of the trunk to put a rock under it ( which eventually I did ) and the amount of roots I lost that I was not intending to lose... plus the way that my bush now leans due to the fact that the base was positioned in the pot crooked so that it appeared to be straight when I purchased it at the store ( oops ) 
All in all I think if this lil' boxy can pull through this then it'll still make a great Bonsai 
"After The Root Pruning"
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Boxwood/P7120509.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Boxwood/P7120512.jpg[/img]
It was super scary and hopefully my lil' Boxy will pull through it It took a long time and ran into some things that I really wasn't really expecting like... worms! ... not being able to easily get to the base of the trunk to put a rock under it ( which eventually I did ) and the amount of roots I lost that I was not intending to lose... plus the way that my bush now leans due to the fact that the base was positioned in the pot crooked so that it appeared to be straight when I purchased it at the store ( oops ) All in all I think if this lil' boxy can pull through this then it'll still make a great Bonsai "After The Root Pruning"
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Boxwood/P7120509.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Boxwood/P7120512.jpg[/img]
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BewilderedGreenyO.o
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 471
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:02 am
- Location: San Bernardino Mountains, California
Today I Root Pruned My Escallonia. What A Mess!!!! It was extremely rootbound and there were roots everywhere! I could not believe what a mess it was and really couldn't fathom how there were so many large thick roots within one bush!
Well with a bit more exploring through the roots and just as I was about to quit because there were so many when I realized something that I really hadn't even thought of before... I noticed that the stem that I thought was one trunk was actually two!! So I fiddled with it a bit and moved some of the larger base roots around a bit and sure enough the two trunks came apart and BAM! I had two separate plants... ( talk about conjoined twins
)
For a moment I had thought that perhaps I should have kept them together to maybe bond and eventually make one large trunk but really... the roots were so messed up that I really think they would do better separately. To my surprize the soil was incredibly sandy and dry even though having watered it just that morning. I bet that those plants were just suffocating. I will be incredibly lucky if they both survive the traumatic repot and root prune
Unfortunately I am still in the learning process and anything is fair game atm.
If they do end up dying I will have to be a bit less aggressive next time and do things different. Here are my Escallonia as they are now in separate pots. Hopefully they will both make it and grow to become beautiful Bonsai. Since they were in the same pot and I split them up I decided to name them... I named the main one with the flowers on it "Bloom" and the one without flowers on it "Grow" hehe AKA "Bloom & Grow"
"Escallonia After Root Prune and Separation"
"BLOOM"
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130520.jpg[/img]
"GROW"
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130521.jpg[/img]
As you can tell from the photos I am still a bit confused about pot size. I couldn't decide whether to put them in small or big pots ... so I put one back in the same pot I took it out of and the other in a larger pot. I dunno if I'm suppose to be putting them in big or small pots
BONUS PICS:
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130513.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130514.jpg[/img]
While Taking photos my cat Calli decided she wanted to jump in and get pictures taken by the newly replanted Escallonia
Well with a bit more exploring through the roots and just as I was about to quit because there were so many when I realized something that I really hadn't even thought of before... I noticed that the stem that I thought was one trunk was actually two!! So I fiddled with it a bit and moved some of the larger base roots around a bit and sure enough the two trunks came apart and BAM! I had two separate plants... ( talk about conjoined twins
) For a moment I had thought that perhaps I should have kept them together to maybe bond and eventually make one large trunk but really... the roots were so messed up that I really think they would do better separately. To my surprize the soil was incredibly sandy and dry even though having watered it just that morning. I bet that those plants were just suffocating. I will be incredibly lucky if they both survive the traumatic repot and root prune
Unfortunately I am still in the learning process and anything is fair game atm. If they do end up dying I will have to be a bit less aggressive next time and do things different. Here are my Escallonia as they are now in separate pots. Hopefully they will both make it and grow to become beautiful Bonsai. Since they were in the same pot and I split them up I decided to name them...
I named the main one with the flowers on it "Bloom" and the one without flowers on it "Grow" hehe AKA "Bloom & Grow" "Escallonia After Root Prune and Separation"
"BLOOM"
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130520.jpg[/img]
"GROW"
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130521.jpg[/img]
As you can tell from the photos I am still a bit confused about pot size. I couldn't decide whether to put them in small or big pots ... so I put one back in the same pot I took it out of and the other in a larger pot. I dunno if I'm suppose to be putting them in big or small pots
BONUS PICS:
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130513.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/NySnap/Plants/Bonsai/Escalliona/P7130514.jpg[/img]
While Taking photos my cat Calli decided she wanted to jump in and get pictures taken by the newly replanted Escallonia
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Victrinia Ridgeway
- Senior Member
- Posts: 264
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:46 am
- Location: Bremerton, WA
Sorry to be joining the party late... (Welcome by the way...)
You'll want to make sure the trees are both in more shade than might normally be needed for the next few weeks while those roots establish themselves... once it looks like it's growing again, feed them...
It looks like you have them in potting soil, so you'll have to watch out for keeping them too wet, but the nice thing is that they'll have soft soil to push new roots into.
With the hard pruning they have had, if you have a lot of heat, make sure you mist them several times a day. With the reduction in roots the activity involved in transpiration will be greatly hampered. You can slow that down and maintain moisture in the foliage by misting. Of course this also means the soil will tend to stay wetter longer, so make sure you are only watering when needed.... which could be daily depending on your temps. Had you used a traditional porous substrate for you soil, you would be watering daily and misting. In your case, misting will be important, and not overwatering so that the roots don't rot.
Healthy roots require the presence of both air and water in the soil... because plants absorb water and nutrients in the form of vapor, not actual water. Which is why substrates like lava/pumice/calidama/akadama are used in soil components, and also why you want a uniform size in your soil. Because you have used a high organic matter medium, you'll just need to make sure it doesn't compact too much or as I said, stay too soggy.
Good luck...
Victrinia
(Welcome by the way...)You'll want to make sure the trees are both in more shade than might normally be needed for the next few weeks while those roots establish themselves... once it looks like it's growing again, feed them...
It looks like you have them in potting soil, so you'll have to watch out for keeping them too wet, but the nice thing is that they'll have soft soil to push new roots into.
With the hard pruning they have had, if you have a lot of heat, make sure you mist them several times a day. With the reduction in roots the activity involved in transpiration will be greatly hampered. You can slow that down and maintain moisture in the foliage by misting. Of course this also means the soil will tend to stay wetter longer, so make sure you are only watering when needed.... which could be daily depending on your temps. Had you used a traditional porous substrate for you soil, you would be watering daily and misting. In your case, misting will be important, and not overwatering so that the roots don't rot.
Healthy roots require the presence of both air and water in the soil... because plants absorb water and nutrients in the form of vapor, not actual water. Which is why substrates like lava/pumice/calidama/akadama are used in soil components, and also why you want a uniform size in your soil. Because you have used a high organic matter medium, you'll just need to make sure it doesn't compact too much or as I said, stay too soggy.
Good luck...
Victrinia
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BewilderedGreenyO.o
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 471
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:02 am
- Location: San Bernardino Mountains, California
Yay! Another person to respond to my many many questions!! Nice to meet you V and thank you so much for the response. The more responses the more I can learn and absorb the information.
We've been having triple digit weather lately so right after I read your post I ran outside to mist my traumatized plants LOL! It felt like I was stepping straight into an oven. Few!
We've been having triple digit weather lately so right after I read your post I ran outside to mist my traumatized plants LOL! It felt like I was stepping straight into an oven. Few!