Repotting Valavanis Juniper

[crookedwoodbonsai]

Going about repotting the juniper I picked up from Valavanis at the last convention - I've never seen a more compacted root system. There's practically zero soil left at all as it's mostly disintegrated into dust and there's large pockets of dry, dead roots.

Aside from the concerning covering of juvenile foliage (which is so prevalent it seems like may just need to be maintained as a spike juniper) , it does seem to be in relatively good health considering the root system...

Would I be being overly cautious possibly just planting this into the ground for a year to regain vigor or would just getting this repotted and giving it some TLC suffice? I've been kinda wanting to ground grow it for a while to get some more root flare anyway...

 

[Eckhoffw]

Hmmm… can you ask Bill?

 

[Mike Westervelt]

Without a close up picture I'd guess that's a needle juniper, not immature foliage.

Regarding health or vigor it looks plenty strong, if you put it in the ground it will eventually change the proportions of an already decent tree,
in other words you'd have to be willing to let get bigger, taller and wider if the goal is base enlargement.

 

[Jester217300]

I think it looks healthy. I would repot into a slightly larger container with good soil and be at least moderately aggressive combing out the roots.

 

[crookedwoodbonsai]

Without a close up picture I'd guess that's a needle juniper, not immature foliage.

Regarding health or vigor it looks plenty strong, if you put it in the ground it will eventually change the proportions of an already decent tree,
in other words you'd have to be willing to let get bigger, taller and wider if the goal is base enlargement.

thanks for the advice. I originally assumed the same however there are a number of areas where mature scale foliage have starting coming in. Unfortunately it was merely labeled "juniper" when I purchased it. His wife wasn't familiar with the variety and Bill wasnt available at his nursery that day - Ive recently emailed Bill in the hopes he may remember. Allegedly it belonged to a student of his who sold his collection off to Bill after some life events.

 

[Eckhoffw]

First of all, very nice tree you have there!
Second, I agree with above remarks about health and repotting.
I would think you could reduce the diameter of the rootball by 2” and the height 1/2” or so by simply raking out those roots, clearing out all the funk.
I would then repot in same container -if desired- with new medium.