Nursery bought azalea - Removing roots/breaking down root ball

[rickyny]

I just recently bought this tree an another from a home depot for $7 and seen some potential and for that cheap just something to practice on without too much of a risk. My question is how much of this root system can i remove before i cause to much damage? It looks smaller than it is it quite a handful and some. Now this exact tree has 2 stumps that i can see and i would honestly like to separate them. But doing so if came across a huge bundle of fine fibrous roots and then swirled larger roots that have twisted in circles it looks like. It is starting to loosen up but even for example if i was wanting to already put this on a more suitable shallow bonsai pot this early how would i go about doing that. Im trying to undo it all so i can separate the 2 growths but i don't want to remove to much. Or should i plant it the way it is into a larger pot and let it continue to grow out? I wouldn't mind doing that but i figure at that point it may be even worse in the future to separat the 2. Any advice would be great

 

[augustine]

Repotting is done in early spring. Do as little as possible now.

Best,

Augustine

 

[Adair M]

Looks like it's already done, Augustine!

Augustine is right, this is the wrong time to be repotting. But you could just use sharp shears and divide the root ball into two trees. Plant back into nursery pots.

It looks to me like you washed the roots off with water. You need to get some soil back into there.

The best soil for azalea is kanuma. I'm sure you don't have that. "Nurseryman's Special" will do for now until you can get some proper bonsai soil.

Good luck!

 

[rickyny]

I actually just slide it out of the nursery pot and it was all just this very fine root system. Very little soil and alot of bark fell out with some light shaking and brushing. So in the future is it okay to remove most of that fine stuffand just find my way to the more hearty roots?

 

[Adair M]

No, that's what azalea roots look like. They are like no other!

If only other trees grew roots like azalea!

 

[0soyoung]

Repotting is done in early spring. Do as little as possible now.

Augustine is right, this is the wrong time to be repotting....

Actually this is a pretty good time of year to repot azaeas, maybe the best; not spring. Shoot growth should be in stasis about now which indicates a switch to root growth - exactly the state one wants for quick recovery from root pruning.

 

[rickyny]

Actually this is a pretty good time of year to repot azaeas, maybe the best; not spring. Shoot growth should be in stasis about now which indicates a switch to root growth - exactly the state one wants for quick recovery from root pruning.

So with that being said, how far can i go with the root pruning. Its at the point where what is left is semi solid on the inside of that bundle. I really would like to expose the base of the trunks a tad bit more as well as some surface roots. But in order to do that i feel i need to remove the fine roots or pull them apart. But i dont want to go beyond the survival point. If i were to remove most of the fine root and open up the thicker roots, would i be stressing the tree too much?

 

[Dav4]

You need to fill out where you live in your user cp. Horticultural advice should always take into account the location of the tree and the experience of the hobbyist. Fwiw, while it is possible to work roots in mid summer, I personally wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer. From my perspective early spring will always be the most forgiving time of year to insult a potted tree's roots.

 

[rickyny]

From my perspective early spring will always be the most forgiving time of year to insult a potted tree's roots.

Alright that makes sense. So say it was spring, again how much of this root system can i safely remove. Not saying im going to do it now. But I am very interested and would like some info on if its okay to remove a majority of the fine stuff and just expose the large roots

 

[GrimLore]

Alright that makes sense. So say it was spring, again how much of this root system can i safely remove. Not saying im going to do it now. But I am very interested and would like some info on if its okay to remove a majority of the fine stuff and just expose the large roots

I find if I remove the same amount of foliage in proportion to the root reduction it works out well. So for example if I take away 25 percent of the root I do the same with the foliage. I might add it "seems" to work that way with all "shrubs" in this part of the country.

Grimmy