I’m now one year into a project to develop a dwarf Sawara cypress bonsai from nursery material. Last year I reduced the silhouette and repotted. Am doing the same this year. Dwarf Sawara cypress I removed between one and two inches of foliage. Shoot before cutback Shoot after cutback And I’ve pretty much decided on […]
Sawara Cypress
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 […]
Initial repotting
Repotting bonsai for the first time is not without an element of excitement. When the transition from trunk to roots is buried, it can take some work to find out what the nebari, or surface roots actually look like. And considering that the roots can be very important to the overall look and value of […]