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One more than one occasion I have noted the importance of establishing the beginnings of a proper nebari on young material. Here is a sequence of photos that illustrate this process on a two year old seedling.

The first photo shows the healthy fibrous root system that a good open mix promotes. If a simple slip-potting was performed at this point the roots would have a tendency to become entangled and it would be difficult and traumatic to arrange them properly in the future.

The second shows the bulk of the soil removed. Another advantage of using coarse soil is the ease with which old soil is removed.

Finally, after root-pruning a flat, radial root system is encouraged. In the future this will lead to a much better root system and the beginning of a proper nebari.
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Norm

Hey Norm - Feel free to post more pictures like this!

Nice - how did you get the flat radial roots like that in the last picture? Just follow the larger roots? Smash it down?

alisios,

how did you get the flat radial roots like that in the last picture?

Simply by making the proper choices when removing unwanted roots. Take a look at the bottom of the plant in this photo.
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Here you can see that several roots that were growing inappropriately were removed. The glare obscures a few cuts I think, but you get the idea.

Once roots that were too high or too low were removed the remaining ones were thinned a bit as well. When you have a nice healthy root system it affords you more choices. Make sure to keep the roots spread when the plant is potted.

Norm

Very nice Norm. That is a great sequence of photos. The nebari on that will be fantastic.

Tom