Repotting Japanese Black Pine

[Potawatomi13]

Repotting: FIRST remove(chopstick)surface soil to expose surface rootage. Secondly if large amount of rootball still present cut off bottom 1/3-1/2 as long as significant roots will remain. Remove circling roots then chopstick "fuzz" out some roots on sides, bottom to grow into new soil and repot. Next repot clean out most of original soil. Do NOT ever bare root pines! Recent Mirai Live presentation Repotting rootbound nursery stock covers this most well.

 

[Billskarsgard]

How about some close-up's? @Billskarsgard
View attachment 225849

Looks like a fun little Pine!

 

[Billskarsgard]

Repotting: FIRST remove(chopstick)surface soil to expose surface rootage. Secondly if large amount of rootball still present cut off bottom 1/3-1/2 as long as significant roots will remain. Remove circling roots then chopstick "fuzz" out some roots on sides, bottom to grow into new soil and repot. Next repot clean out most of original soil. Do NOT ever bare root pines! Recent Mirai Live presentation Repotting rootbound nursery stock covers this most well.

Thank you very much for the input.

 

[0soyoung]

Do NOT ever bare root pines!

I have 38 pines of 9 different species totaling at about 20 different varieties. Every single one of them has been bare rooted in one fashion or another. Every one of them were nursery stock. Are you telling me that I've committed some bonsai-sin?

If you are drawing a distinction between full bare rooting in one go and instead doing half bare rooting to get rid of pot soil and/or field muck, I've found that ONLY p. thunbergii and p. densiflora must be half bare rooted. P. mugo, p. sylvestris, p. nigra, p. contorta, p. strobus and p. bungeana, definitely do not (whether they are the whole tree or just the root stock).

My other bit of potential heresy is that pines do better (certainly in our climate) when repotted or root-worked after the summer solstice, like around August instead of in the spring. It isn't just mugo.

 

[Billskarsgard]

I have 38 pines of 9 different species totaling at about 20 different varieties. Every single one of them has been bare rooted in one fashion or another. Every one of them were nursery stock. Are you telling me that I've committed some bonsai-sin?

If you are drawing a distinction between full bare rooting in one go and instead doing half bare rooting to get rid of pot soil and/or field muck, I've found that ONLY p. thunbergii and p. densiflora must be half bare rooted. P. mugo, p. sylvestris, p. nigra, p. contorta, p. strobus and p. bungeana, definitely do not (whether they are the whole tree or just the root stock).

My other bit of potential heresy is that pines do better (certainly in our climate) when repotted or root-worked after the summer solstice, like around August instead of in the spring. It isn't just mugo.[/QUOTE
You have a lot of pines. I couldn't imagine having so many at this point. ? I would love too, but I work too many hours. I always hear different advice from different people. I'll keep this information in mind, including a screenshot. Thank you

 

[Adair M]

I have 38 pines of 9 different species totaling at about 20 different varieties. Every single one of them has been bare rooted in one fashion or another. Every one of them were nursery stock. Are you telling me that I've committed some bonsai-sin?

If you are drawing a distinction between full bare rooting in one go and instead doing half bare rooting to get rid of pot soil and/or field muck, I've found that ONLY p. thunbergii and p. densiflora must be half bare rooted. P. mugo, p. sylvestris, p. nigra, p. contorta, p. strobus and p. bungeana, definitely do not (whether they are the whole tree or just the root stock).

My other bit of potential heresy is that pines do better (certainly in our climate) when repotted or root-worked after the summer solstice, like around August instead of in the spring. It isn't just mugo.

0so, you live in Washington State. Very different climate than Florida. Your repotting regimen would not work in Florida.

The local climate matters. Things that work just fine in some climate are deadly in others.

 

[Billskarsgard]

Totally agree. There's a huge difference. Our weather is without actual seasons, and we usually have two weeks of winter with extreme humidity. ?

 

[0soyoung]

0so, you live in Washington State. Very different climate than Florida. Your repotting regimen would not work in Florida.

The local climate matters. Things that work just fine in some climate are deadly in others.

I am just in awe with the depth of your knowledge and understanding. What is your association with The Warnell School of Forestry in Athens?


btw, my post was responding to @Potawatomi13, statement about never bare rooting a pine. No real geographic/climatic qualifications in his statement, so I mistakenly thought it not improper. I apologize for the thread bomb @Billskarsgard.

 

[Adair M]

Foresters don’t relate to bonsai. They have different goals.

Yes, I agree that Pots provides little information here.

You may may not care for my lack of scientific, published white paper methods, 0so, but I can provide first hand knowledge of what works here.

 

[0soyoung]

Foresters don’t relate to bonsai. They have different goals.

Yes, I agree that Pots provides little information here.

You may may not care for my lack of scientific, published white paper methods, 0so, but I can provide first hand knowledge of what works here.

Here? You live in northern NEGeorgia.
About the only thing it has in common with Orlando, FL is a time zone.

Science is fundamentally observation, not presumption that all that could be known is already known. A sciency guy, like me for example, might have noted that Adam Levigne (who lives in the environs of Orlando) repots as many of his trees in August as he does this time of year. Yes, they are tropical species. But, I wonder, what qualifies as a tropical tree? Is it only tropical trees? Is it only in Orlando, FL?

Two decades or more ago Vance Wood noted that mugo pines thrived when repotted around August. He lives in Michigan!!!! How can that be? But it works here. in heaven's half-acre, too. Are mugos tropical species? Is is because of the climate? My response was to try repotting a number of trees of varied species and presented the results here on BNut. I did this with zelkova serrata, eastern redbud, cork oak, lodgepole pine, and Douglas fir, repotting in spring versus around August and showed that all these species have this capacity to be repotted in the middle of summer in common with mugos and with whatever Adam Levigne is working on in Orlando.

Your response is not curiosity, acceptance, or anything even similar. You dismiss it all as some magic of my climate. You don't even consider that it might be that I am a horticultural genius. Instead you helicopter in and herald that everything anyone needs to know is known and we should just have a beer. Or. as in this case, that all should be very afraid because climate makes a difference: 0so lives in horticultural heaven. This what I dislike.

Again, apologies for the thread bomb. @Billskarsgard.

 

[Billskarsgard]

It's cool. I'm taking in plenty of much needed information. BTW, I appreciate advice from everybody. I'm a clueless ? at this point.

 

[Adair M]

Here? You live in northern NEGeorgia.
About the only thing it has in common with Orlando, FL is a time zone.

Science is fundamentally observation, not presumption that all that could be known is already known. A sciency guy, like me for example, might have noted that Adam Levigne (who lives in the environs of Orlando) repots as many of his trees in August as he does this time of year. Yes, they are tropical species. But, I wonder, what qualifies as a tropical tree? Is it only tropical trees? Is it only in Orlando, FL?

Two decades or more ago Vance Wood noted that mugo pines thrived when repotted around August. He lives in Michigan!!!! How can that be? But it works here. in heaven's half-acre, too. Are mugos tropical species? Is is because of the climate? My response was to try repotting a number of trees of varied species and presented the results here on BNut. I did this with zelkova serrata, eastern redbud, cork oak, lodgepole pine, and Douglas fir, repotting in spring versus around August and showed that all these species have this capacity to be repotted in the middle of summer in common with mugos and with whatever Adam Levigne is working on in Orlando.

Your response is not curiosity, acceptance, or anything even similar. You dismiss it all as some magic of my climate. You don't even consider that it might be that I am a horticultural genius. Instead you helicopter in and herald that everything anyone needs to know is known and we should just have a beer. Or. as in this case, that all should be very afraid because climate makes a difference: 0so lives in horticultural heaven. This what I dislike.

Again, apologies for the thread bomb. @Billskarsgard.

For Pete’s sake, 0so!

Different trees live in different climates. I repot Olives when they are actively growing. That’s summer for me. I don’t do tropicals, but I’ve heard they act like olives.

My experience with JBP is I have 100% success repotting late winter to early spring. Before I started studying with Boon, it was common for folks around here to repot pines in the fall. My first bonsai teacher, David Cook used to advocate it. But, you know what? I used to experience a failure rate of about 20%! Over the following winter, I might lose about one out of 5 trees I repotted!

Now, granted, that could be due to several reasons: back in the day, I did not use Boon Mix, nor did I know about Half Bare Root reports, nor many of Boon’s other potting techniques. I am MUCH better at repotting now than I was then.

Then again, I’m also much more aware of the ideal time to perform said repotting!

If it’s an emergency, sure, go ahead and repot. If not, I will wait until the time comes when I know I’ll have 100% success.

 

[Billskarsgard]

I read online that a freshly rooted black Pine should be kept in the shade for a week and misted. Is this correct? Should I keep it in the bathroom? Florida heat is coming back and the sun is a scorcher.

 

[Billskarsgard]

Thank you, everybody. You guys/gals are knowledgeable

 

[Billskarsgard]

She was rootbound so I had no choice but to repot. Based on what I've read I can't pull out old needles, set in sun, or wire her for a while. Anybody know of a safe amount of time for the three?

 

[Dav4]

Ideally, you would have done the needle plucking and wiring before the re-pot. Messing around with the tree immediately after a re-pot will prevent the roots from recovering quickly. I'd probably pull the needles now and not wire until next fall.... and get it outside.

 

[Billskarsgard]

Ideally, you would have done the needle plucking and wiring before the re-pot. Messing around with the tree immediately after a re-pot will prevent the roots from recovering quickly. I'd probably pull the needles now and not wire until next fall.... and get it outside.

Thank you, sir. I planned on doing the wiring firstly, but realized that I had too much rapid root growth. Won't the Florida sun scorch it after a repot?

 

[Dav4]

Thank you, sir. I planned on doing the wiring firstly, but realized that I had too much rapid root growth. Won't the Florida sun scorch it after a repot?

If the roots are in decent shape, you should be able to give it full sun now.

 

[Billskarsgard]

I'm grateful for your feedback

 

[Potawatomi13]

I have 38 pines of 9 different species totaling at about 20 different varieties. Every single one of them has been bare rooted in one fashion or another. Every one of them were nursery stock. Are you telling me that I've committed some bonsai-sin?

YES! Many many times have seen this site "never bare root pines"! Mirai Live "Repotting Fundamentals" live stream Ryan states Never bare root pines!

"IF" Osoyoung personally having 100% success doing this is huge question. Osoyoung arrogant bragging at least irresponsible. At worst criminally irresponsible teaching newcomers and learning folks to follow your pattern and likely kill many trees which otherwise might live many years! THINK!