Cotoneaster possible root issue

[Ugo]

Hi!

I would like to share my recent work on a yamadori cotoneaster I collected last year at my parents house.
This Spring, everything was fine but the substrate started showing signs of issues with drainage.
Upon inspection a part of the akadama turned into dust... for a reason I still can figure out as the tree didnt experience frost.

Long story short I decided to leave a few weeks for the tree to recover from Spring push and did the clean-up work this week hoping the tree will be able to fully recover next Autum.


Left side is affected



Cutting the outside perimeter of the root mass


Crushed akadama


While working the soil with a bamboo stick I use a shop vac to take out all the dust


During work


clean-up done, preparation of 50%pumice 50% akadama


First layer and root work


Job done!


Hope this will create a better environement for the roots to grow and replace the lost branches!
Ill keep you updated on the result of this operation.

Thanks
Ugo

 

[Tieball]

Interesting. I’ve only seen that kind of fine grain when I don’t sift a substrate. Maybe you had a bad batch destined to fall apart.

 

[Ugo]

Interesting. I’ve only seen that kind of fine grain when I don’t sift a substrate. Maybe you had a bad batch destined to fall apart.

That's exactly my tough...
I still have half a bag (jirushi)
For sure ill stick with Ibaraki double line which never failed me!!

 

[queenofsheba52]

Hi @Ugo How is this doing several months later?

 

[Ugo]

Hi @Ugo How is this doing several months later?

Hi!

Thanks for asking.
I will say that the damages are done. I took time to investigate a couple weeks ago and it seems that this section is dead.
So it didnt work as expected.
I will have to include it in the design if I decide to keep working on this tree.

Quick video of complete rotation.
Sorry for my bad accent, English is not my first language as you can hear / read!

His big brother is doing fine but was potted from collection using DE as a test...!