What should I do with monster junipers potted way too deep?

[Brain Treez]

Last weekend I picked up two junipers in 7 gallon cans from a wholesale nursery for cheap. They're definitely the biggest material I've ever had, with great trunks. They weren't labeled, but they sure look like chinensis Old Golds. The problem is they're potted way, way too deep. Considering the time of year, it seems too late to repot them.

You can see from the photos that there are several branches coming up from soil level or below. I'm guessing they've been potted like this for more than a year, because the surface soil is very dense. (Photos are all from one tree, the other is similar). Are they going to be fine until early next spring to repot then? What do I do?

 

[roberthu]

Too late to repot this year. Water and fertilize carefully this year and repot next spring is what I would do.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Don’t see why not. It’s been fine so far?,

It’s entirely possible these branches might have rooted too

This is a great time to clean up the detritus develop a basic design, kill off some branches and created Shari.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Brain Treez]

Don’t see why not. It’s been fine so far?,

It’s entirely possible these branches might have rooted too

This is a great time to clean up the detritus develop a basic design, kill off some branches and created Shari.

Cheers
DSD sends

I can't really make any decisions around design until I can see what kind of trunk is actually down there. So I feel stuck.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hmm…

Ok, let’s hove get unstuck.

First clean up the branches and trunk.

Next dig gently down around the trunk to uncover the entire nebari.

Then Tilt, tip, mark branches, take photos and design plan to your hearts content.

Cover it up …or not. Shouldn’t bother the juniper one iota

It’s done all the time

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shibui]

The trees will be fine until next repotting opportunity.

Junipers I've worked with are very quick to produce new roots on any part of trunk or branch under soil level. Sometimes mine even start roots above soil level if humidity is high. This means there's a very high likelihood of roots all along the buried trunk. If they have not been buried long those roots might still be thin and can be cut easily. Unfortunately roots feeding the trunk also contribute to thickening so I've found inverse taper very, very common where new roots have been growing for more than a few months.

No problem digging down along the trunk to check what's happened. Any tree can cope with the loss of up to around 10% of roots at any time so cutting a few small roots while you investigate won't hurt. Given I can see lots of matted roots on the soil surface I'd say digging down to investigate the roots will be difficult and probably futile anyway.

I can see from the final photo that the tree already has reasonably strong surface roots growing from the trunk. That will almost certainly mean inverse taper below so I would be working on a plan for the trees as they are now. That could mean splitting the extra trunks growing from the soil off as separate trees or designing multi trunks. It is almost certain that each trunk will already have self layered below soil level and have plenty of roots to be able to survive transplant as a separate tree.

 

[shohin_branches]

One thing I typically do is pop the whole thing out of the nursery can and clean top down until I find the root spread. Then cut the rim of the pot down using tin snips and plop it back in. Gets you to the root flare but doesn't disturb the roots enough to harm the tree. Just don't remove too much foliage before the first repot because if it can't use up the water in the rootzone then the roots can rot.

 

[roberthu]

I can't really make any decisions around design until I can see what kind of trunk is actually down there. So I feel stuck.

I am not sure I follow.

There are generally two cleaning work on Junipers. One is the bark and one is foliage. You can clean the bark and small dead twigs right now and that may give you a different feel of the movement/flow. Then later in the summer, you can clean the foliage if the tree grows vigorously. That will really open up the structure and give you a good idea of what potential it possesses.

 

[Potawatomi13]

One thing I typically do is pop the whole thing out of the nursery can and clean top down until I find the root spread. Then cut the rim of the pot down using tin snips and plop it back in. Gets you to the root flare but doesn't disturb the roots enough to harm the tree. Just don't remove too much foliage before the first repot because if it can't use up the water in the rootzone then the roots can rot.

Brilliant and should be obvious suggestion for all to see. No repotting problem just do this. Then can repot whenever is OK time, If rooted, long low branches can be new literati.

 

[Brain Treez]

In an attempt to alleviate the extremely poor rate of water penetration into the root mass, I tore down into one of these also hoping to find the confluence of the two trunks. I got close, but not quite there. Water still drains painfully slow, but at least there's a gap to the top of the pot that it can pool in and slowly percolate down.

 

[leatherback]

I tore down into one of these also hoping to find the confluence of the two trunks. I got close, but not quite there.

so why did you stop?
Just continue on. As long as you do not cut major roots you can work your way down, similar to what @shohin_branches suggested.

 

[Brain Treez]

so why did you stop?
Just continue on. As long as you do not cut major roots you can work your way down, similar to what @shohin_branches suggested.

I plan to continue, it was just hot and was much slower going than I'd expected!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

One thing I typically do is pop the whole thing out of the nursery can and clean top down until I find the root spread. Then cut the rim of the pot down using tin snips and plop it back in.

^ This is exactly my approach as well.