Repotting recently grafted young pines is just like repotting non-grafted pines, only additional care is taken to avoid damaging the union.
Grafted cork bark black pine
After removing the pot
Note the white spot – there are signs of root adelgid infestation. For those curious to see how mycorrhiza differs in appearance from adelgid infestation, see below.
Mycorrhiza – and lots of it
Simply coming out the roots cleared away most of the affected area so I didn’t spray pesticides to address the adelgids.
After combing out the roots
I planted the pine in a colander.
Nestling the tree onto a mound of soil.
Once the tree was in place, I tied it in and added more soil. Using chopsticks, I worked the new soil in between the roots.
Before chopstick work
After chopstick work – notice the level of the soil has dropped
I then added soil to fill the pot and tamped it into place.
Repotting complete
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Alex V says
March 4, 2015 at 7:03 amJonas – I have been enjoying the development postings! I am curious about how much work was done on the roots when you repotted. I know cork bark pines aren’t quite as dependent on a good nebari as other pines, but it still seems like a good time to examine the roots. However, from the pictures, it isn’t clear if you left the roots mostly as a ball or combed them out.
Thanks again for the great posts!
Jonas Dupuich says
March 4, 2015 at 12:31 pmHi Alex! Corkbarks are more sensitive to root work than black pines, though at this early stage I don’t know whether the trees behave more like cork bark or non-cork bark pines. I didn’t do much root work to encourage as much growth as possible. I’ll look to do more root work the next time I repot.
If I had more of these I’d do more root work on half to see how each group does.
Alex V says
March 5, 2015 at 5:36 amI had suspected there was a reason, thanks!