Kojo-no-mai Messy First Work

[Viggoman]

I finally got around to do the initial work on this Kojo-no-mai cherry blossom I bought during the fall sale.

The roots where a complete mess, and I had to spend 1.5 hours to make any sense of it. They were tangled like crazy, and many of them unfortunatly seemed pretty unhelathy due to the poor nursery soil. I had to chop of way more than I am comfortable with, but I saw no other way. I'd rather do the risky work now, and set it up properly for a great future if it survives.


I initially saw this as a cascade, but when I finally found the rootbase, it disagreed, so guess this is the current orientation for this bonsai.

 

[Maros]

I'm surprised by your repotting timing. My hunch feeling is that it's too early for the south of Norway. I guess, you will store the tree in a frost-free environment, but it seems to be a bit off anyway.
Those trees usually have very messy roots in garden centre pots, it is definitely, a challenge to get them into a pot. Fingers crossed with the projects; they are very cool plants.

 

[Viggoman]

I'm surprised by your repotting timing. My hunch feeling is that it's too early for the south of Norway. I guess, you will store the tree in a frost-free environment, but it seems to be a bit off anyway.
Those trees usually have very messy roots in garden centre pots, it is definitely, a challenge to get them into a pot. Fingers crossed with the projects; they are very cool plants.

I agree, but we have had weeks with very warm weather (for being january), up to 10C and sun, and there is no "winter" in sight on the forecast. The tree started to show signs of waking from dormancy, so I figured it was about time.

I will keep it frost free if the cold comes back ofc, and I have a green house to keep it in as well, so it's nice and cozy
Thank you

 

[Cadillactaste]

Treat those cuts with antibacterial goo. Back in the day several of us here lost Kojo No Mai...over pruning and getting silver leaf.

Took me years to finally ID silver leaf. The foliage took on a metallic sheen...

In the UK they say not to prune until it is in leaf. Still treat cuts. to help prevent that silver leaf disease.

Good luck with it.

 

[Viggoman]

Treat those cuts with antibacterial goo. Back in the day several of us here lost Kojo No Mai...over pruning and getting silver leaf.

Took me years to finally ID silver leaf. The foliage took on a metallic sheen...

In the UK they say not to prune until it is in leaf. Still treat cuts. to help prevent that silver leaf disease.

Good luck with it.

I have washed and sealed all cuts, so I guess that should be enough?

I couln't find much on when to prune this, so I just took of the tips to balance the tree as I remove alot of roots. I think it should be ok

I'll keep this post updated if the tree lives or dies. I have hopes

 

[Cadillactaste]

Best of luck to ya.

It's crazy none of us knew about silver leaf. I would have used Top Jin / orange goo for bacterial issues on all cuts and sealed them.

Google Mentions maintaining silver leaf. Our biggest hurdle was. None of us knew what the issue was. To address it. It was years later one in the UK said they only prune while in leaf to avoid silver leaf.

Our foliage had a silver metallic sheen. I didn't put cut paste on the smallest of cuts. But I did use top jin on larger ones. So ... frustrating. I had a glazed commissioned pot by Victor Harris made for it.

I do wish you the best. You aren't the only one to have them..but maybe just understanding a possible underlying issue. You can look into managing it better if it shows up. None of us knew what we were seeing. Back then.

 

[Viggoman]

Best of luck to ya.

It's crazy none of us knew about silver leaf. I would have used Top Jin / orange goo for bacterial issues on all cuts and sealed them.

Google Mentions maintaining silver leaf. Our biggest hurdle was. None of us knew what the issue was. To address it. It was years later one in the UK said they only prune while in leaf to avoid silver leaf.

Our foliage had a silver metallic sheen. I didn't put cut paste on the smallest of cuts. But I did use top jin on larger ones. So ... frustrating. I had a glazed commissioned pot by Victor Harris made for it.

I do wish you the best. You aren't the only one to have them..but maybe just understanding a possible underlying issue. You can look into managing it better if it shows up. None of us knew what we were seeing. Back then.

I never heard of it either! Googling it makes me a bit more nervous about the pruning, but nothing I can do about it now. If it occurs I atleast know what it is. Thanks for pointing out the potential concern. By the looks of it, it's not considered a huge problem here, so I have my fingers crossed

 

[Cadillactaste]

I never heard of it either! Googling it makes me a bit more nervous about the pruning, but nothing I can do about it now. If it occurs I atleast know what it is. Thanks for pointing out the potential concern. By the looks of it, it's not considered a huge problem here, so I have my fingers crossed

Good to hear it isn't largely a problem there. Again it took me years...to learn the culprit. None of us had heard it either. It was touched on in a UK group. A light bulb went off. I felt good to finally grasp what happened...what caused it. I hate not understanding something. Especially a loss that hit so many of us. It was so bizzare.

Best of luck to ya.

 

[penumbra]

I have about a dozen Kojo-no-mai. Two are in nursery pots and several are in pond baskets. I have had no issue at all with them, though they have had hard pruning. These are all in there 5th or 6th year now from 4 inch nursery pots. A half dozen were in the ground growing out until last spring when the bed was re-dug and they went into pots. None of them were sealed or treated when re-planted. This is the first I have heard of Silver Leaf. I am either very lucky, or I don't have any exposure to the vector here, which still means I am lucky.