hegx442
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Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:24 am
Location: Derby

Advice needed - should I re-pot?

Hi Everyone :)

Please look at the photo of my Bonsai (a Sageretia I think) and let me know if you think I should re-pot it?

https://photobucket.com/hegx442bonsai

I recieved the tree for Christmas, apparently it is 8 years old, but I'm not sure how well it have been cared for in that time. Maybe it should have been re-potted before it was sold.

I'm not sure what soil it is in at the moment, but I was planning to re-pot it in Akadama as I've read it is the best. Any opinions on this?

Thanks, hegx :)

luigonz
Senior Member
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Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2010 4:50 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO (Zone 6)

akedama is rather different from what it in now.

I would wait until spring.

maybe a mix of some organic and inorganic.

TomM
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Posts: 749
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:28 am
Location: Cedarville (SE of Utica) NY, USA

Don't rush the repot. It's best done in Spring. Too many (new) people jump in too fast. You've only had this since Christmas.

Bonsai need to 'acclimate' to their new home environment. Let it get used to your home. Learn all you can about Sageretia theezans. There is plenty of info out there.

Come Spring, if your tree is stabilized well and is vigorous, consider repotting with fast draining bonsai soil. I would not recommend akadama - total waste of money at this point. A general mix would be fine.

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manIK
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Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:01 pm
Location: Rhode Island

hegx442 wrote:Hi Everyone :)

Please look at the photo of my Bonsai (a Sageretia I think) and let me know if you think I should re-pot it?
I'm curious why you think you might need to repot it.

If there is no urgency [and it doesn't look like there is - sometimes with store bought products there could be a definite need to repot] then you can wait until spring. Echoing what the other's have said, to let the little guy acclimate.

hegx442
Full Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:24 am
Location: Derby

Thanks for the advice guys, I guess I'm just a bit over excited! Haha :) I've got something new and want to play with it!!

The pot it's in is cracked so I need to change it, and thought I could do a proper re-pot at the same time. However, the replacement pot I have is identical, so I'll just lift it out and straight into the new one.

I'll take a breath now and let the little thing be!

Thanks all :)

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manIK
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Posts: 119
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:01 pm
Location: Rhode Island

A broken [sometimes even a lightly cracked] pot is certainly a valid reason to repot but repoting is stressful so if it can be avoided as a measure of 'just cause' then it's always best to wait until the tree is ready for it.

In this case, consider yourself lucky that you have a pot that matches and the tree came out of the other one easily enough and can just be placed in the new one without any effort - I'm sure it won't even notice - which is definitely something you want to capitalize on.

Kaerihana
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Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:17 am
Location: Wisconsin

Here is a good cheap tip for some organic addition to your akadama. go to home depot and buy some pine bark mulch its just perfect for adding to your mix and around 4.00 bucks for a big bag. It may need some breaking up into smaller pieces but it crumbles quite nice. Oh also not the bine bark nuggets those are too big and thick. I believe the brand I get is called rustic pine bark. hope it helps



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