This turned out to be a big year in the garden for repots. Together with Adam, Steve, Christian, and JC, we repotted around 195 bonsai and pre-bonsai plus 14 flats of young trees – far more than the normal routine. In hindsight, this wouldn’t have been possible without an efficient workstation. I’ve taken different approaches […]
Repotting
Three repotting tips
This winter is turning out to be a big repotting year for me. Throughout the season, three themes are guiding the work. 1. Work in Batches To get through as many trees as quickly as I can, I’m repotting in batches. When the trees are young, I’ll prepare the pots, remove the trees from their […]
Mid-repotting report: Japanese red pine
This week I finally got around to repotting a red pine forest that hadn’t been worked on in a while. Midway through, I paused to take note of the different techniques I was using to do the work. Midway through the repot I’d started by combing out the mat of roots growing along the bottom […]
What to do when akadama is in short supply
Akadama, particularly when mixed with other media, is a great medium for growing bonsai (see “All about akadama” for details). Over the course of the last year, akadama has become harder to come by for several reasons: Global demand has increased. Mining slowed down due to heavier than normal rainfall. Shipping congestion has delayed shipments. […]
Repotting a Sierra juniper with a compacted root ball
When a bonsai hasn’t been repotted in a while, the broken down soil and roots can fill most of the gaps between soil particles and make for a compacted root ball. It’s hard to keep bonsai healthy when water doesn’t move through the soil well, so the goal for repotting a tree with compacted roots […]