• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Repotting a Japanese maple

April 13, 2010 by Jonas Dupuich

Back in winter I took a few photographs of an air-layered Japanese maple getting repotted during a Bay Island Bonsai workshop.

Combing out the roots – Japanse maple ‘sango kaku’

The new roots are well established. The next step is to get them to fuse while improving the ramification. Jeff, the tree’s owner, kicked off this phase by bare-rooting the tree and repotting it into a large, shallow, growing container.

After combing out the roots and cutting them back, Jeff washed all of the old soil out of the rootball. Clearing away the old soil is an important step in getting the roots to fuse. Small soil particles can slow down this process by reducing the drainage and impeding contact between roots. Here’s the tree after completing the root-work.

Root-work completed

Jeff happens to be quite crafty when it comes to making bonsai containers. He created the pot below specifically for developing the tree’s roots. The light colored soil is pumice, used for drainage. The speckled soil in the center is the actual bonsai mix consisting primarily of akadama, pumice, and lava.

Ready for the tree

The pot looks huge for this tree – and it is. But by using a large pot, Jeff can let the tree grow uninterrupted for more than a year before having to repot again. This will allow the roots to develop more quickly than they could if the tree were repotted every year for the next few years.

Ready to tie the tree to the pot.

After nestling the tree into the mound of bonsai soil, the next step is securing the tree with bonsai wire. See “Repotting a trident maple – securing the tree in the pot” for details about this process.

Tree secured

Michael Hagedorn provides a good fertilizing tip designed to encourage maples to develop superb nebari. If Jeff continues the good work for another 30 years, he may end up with something outstanding like the tree below – or maybe something better!

Incredible roots

Japanese maple from Ebihara’s garden

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Japanese maple, Repotting

Previous Post: « Bonsai fertilizer
Next Post: Spring bonsai display »

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2025 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT