After wiring a bonsai into the pot and filling the pot with soil, I’ll usually give the whole a few gentle taps to make sure I did a good job with the chopsticks. A few gentle taps can quickly reveal faulty chopstick work as the soil will quickly settle in neglected areas. I usually tap […]
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Wiring a tree into the pot
Some of the final steps when repotting bonsai are among the most important – especially when it comes to wiring trees into the pot. I typically wire trees into the pot after setting the tree, but when repotting partially or completely bare-rooted trees, I first work some soil into the exposed roots. If no soil […]
Setting the tree
When repotting bonsai, I try to keep roots exposed to air for as little time as possible. When I know what pot a tree will be planted in ahead of time, I’ll add wire and screen to the pot before I begin the rootwork. I knew I’d plant my sawara cypress into a terra cotta […]
Partially bare-rooting sawara cypress
When repotting coniferous bonsai growing in nursery soil – typically soil with a lot of organic material – I try to remove all of the soil from a portion of the rootball. How much old soil I remove or bare-root depends on how many roots I find and the overall health of the tree. In […]
Reducing the rootball
When repotting a bonsai for the first time, I begin by looking for the transition from trunk to roots. After finding this transition, I can then determine how much of the remaining rootball to keep. Options for reducing the rootball include carefully combing out the roots and reducing their length or simply cutting them, soil and […]