Air pockets in the rootball, we are often told, lead to dead roots which can cause further dieback on roots or branches. It stands to reason – roots exposed to the air will not fare well on varieties like satsuki. The most common place to find air pockets is below heavy roots or under the […]
Bonsai Care
The bonsai care category includes topics like Watering, Fertilizing, Repotting and Bonsai Soil. You can also find information about the Pests commonly found on bonsai, and read Interviews with bonsai professionals.
Repotting bare-root satsuki azaleas
For most varieties of bonsai, there are many approaches to repotting. Soil mixes, timing, and the number and selection of roots to be cut can vary widely depending on who is doing the work. When it comes to azaleas, this isn’t the case. Satsuki bonsai care – at least the basics – is fairly conventionalized. […]
Checking the roots on a large cork oak
I’d like to highlight a comment from the last post: “Whenever I get a new tree I like to repot it at the first ideal opportunity, regardless of whether or not the tree or soil are showing signs of a required repot because that is such an important component to the future of the tree […]
Signs that it’s time to repot
There are some obvious signs that indicate when it’s time to repot a tree – like when the water fails to percolate or when a pot breaks. Other signs are more subtle. When there’s a significant change in the amount of time it takes for a tree to dry out, for instance, it might be […]
Restoring an old cork oak bonsai
Toward the end of 2014, I picked up an old cork oak bonsai that belonged to a former member of Bay Island Bonsai. The tree hadn’t been repotted for maybe 5-10 years. Getting it out of the pot took several hours – the whole repotting took more than a day. At the time, the tree […]