Is my Trident Maple telling me its ok to repot now (Southern Hemisphere)?

[stroven]

I am fairly sure it is ok but would love to hear from the experts. I have this old trident, purchased on year ago, it went nuts through summer and had a big prune in autumn to get back some shape. I am eager to bare root the old potting soil from it and pot it into akadama. Right now I am approaching spring, the tree has a handful of buds but not many. nights are about 10 degrees C and days are warm and sunny in the low to mid 20's. Are those little buds in the photo a green light for repotting? Other folks in my area have with complete success (however they are more daring than I). I have never owned or repotted a trident before but I hear they are hard to kill. I plan on a big root reduction to try and get the base of the tree closer to the rim of the pot as right now its on a big mound which I don't like aesthetically.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I can’t see any bud movement yet, but in general, if you can keep it from freezing it should be safe to repot. I usually wait until buds are swelling.

 

[rockm]

I don't see any buds swelling either. Like Brian, I wait until buds swell--typically that means you see small green and brown stripes on buds as tissues expand within the buds, separating the outer brown shell a bit.

 

[eugenev2]

Brian and Rockm are way more experienced than i am in these matters. But the redish/brown in the first picture looks like a bud that's already opening to me
Ps southern hemisphere where exactly?

 

[Shibui]

I don't think there's anywhere in Southern hemisphere where it is cold enough to worry about when to repot tridents.
I've been growing tridents as bonsai for 40 years and start repotting them from mid winter through to leaves almost fully open with no problems.
You will be fine to repot now.

I can see one lonely red bud emerging in the closeup but no sign of buds on the other branches visible which makes me wonder if those branches have died. Need to see some more clear, close shots to ascertain what's what on the tree. Tridents should have many more buds emerging by now so that one does not look great.
Definitely add a location so we can get a better idea of your local climate.

 

[pandacular]

I don't think there's anywhere in Southern hemisphere where it is cold enough to worry about when to repot tridents.

you mean to say there aren't bonsai practitioners on Antarctica???

 

[stroven]

Sorry for the delayed reply and thanks for the feedback!
Turns out it has been a strange season in my area. I heard at the last club meeting that others have seen similar behavior with their maples this year where there has been a delayed bud burst.
Ya'll were correct in that there were not any swollen buds in my first photos, in fact there were already-opened leaves, just not many, and very tiny. I really thought the tree was done for when I saw that.
I completed the re-pot 2 weeks ago and the tree has responded really well.
I pruned probably 70% of the roots, bare rooted with the garden hose and then switched from potting soil to 100% akadama.
The tree hasn't shown any signs that it didn't like the process and continues to throw out new leaves daily.
I am now growing out the bottom branch as it has become weak as the top was not maintained before I acquired it.