Repotting out of season because bad soil conditions?

[Scrogdor]

Hello, I got a pre-bonsai Ficus that was delivered 7 days ago. I've read early spring is generally the time to repot ficus, however the soil is regular and is also extremely hydrophobic, I can barely get water to penetrate without beading up and running to the sides. I can pick the ficus up it comes out of the pot easy in the shape of the pot, feels like a rubber ball.

So my question is: Is it alright to do a full repot of this even though it's out of season? If not, what would you guys recommend? I"m worried about my ability to get water to the middle roots.

 

[Paradox]

The best time to repot a ficus is in the summer as long as its not scorching hot.
I typically repot all my tropicals in the beginning of July.
Looking at your local weather, your highs are going to to be in the 70s and low 80s.
Id say you can probably repot it now and still have plenty of time for it to recover before your cold weather happens.

 

[Scrogdor]

The best time to repot a ficus is in the summer as long as its not scorching hot.
I typically repot all my tropicals in the beginning of July.
Looking at your local weather, your highs are going to to be in the 70s and low 80s.
Id say you can probably repot it now and still have plenty of time for it to recover before your cold weather happens.

Thanks!

 

[Divide_by_zero]

If the tree is doing poorly enough to warrant an emergency repot, keep it inside until spring if you're worried about cold weather. Ficus are tropical and do just fine indoors all year up here.

 

[Scrogdor]

If the tree is doing poorly enough to warrant an emergency repot keep it inside if you're afraid of cold weather. Ficus are tropical and do just fine indoors all year up here.

It looks fine, leaves look healthy, but the soil feels like rubber and water just beads up on it and runs to the outside.

 

[Divide_by_zero]

It looks fine, leaves look healthy, but the soil feels like rubber and water just beads up on it and runs to the outside.

Maybe try watering it once by immersing the pot in water over the rim. Once bubbles stop rising the root ball should be saturated, take it out of the water and let it drain. It should then be able to accept watering normally going forward until you feel you are in a better time to do a regular repot.

 

[vp999]

It's a ficus... and its still summer time, I dont see any problem whatsoever regarding repotting and root pruning now.

 

[vp999]

Some people take a drill and drill bunch of holes in the soils also to get water to penetrate better.

 

[Paradox]

If the tree is doing poorly enough to warrant an emergency repot, keep it inside until spring if you're worried about cold weather. Ficus are tropical and do just fine indoors all year up here.

He is in Oakland California, it wont really get cold enough to worry about with a ficus until December or January.
It should be fine outside until then.

 

[Forsoothe!]

You could saw 50 to 60% off the bottom of the rootball, and remove 75% of the heavy anchor roots and keep as many as possible fine hairy roots that do all the feeding.

 

[Scrogdor]

Thanks all for the help, I'm gonna set aside some time this weekend to repot it. I'll post a picture once its done

 

[Carol 83]

I just repotted, pruned and started some cuttings off of mine. In CA, I'd say you're good to go.

 

[Scrogdor]

Here’s an update of the repot. I trimmed almost half the root mass. Still some surface roots that are popping up. This is a 10.5 by 8.5 pot. I thought I would be able to put it lower in the pot, but the trunk extends quite a ways down from the surface. Is this pot too small and if so, is it worth going to buy a bigger one and repotting now? Or should I just repot it after one year instead of two?