Transplanting: The Happy Zone 3/20/14

Here’s Michael Hagedorn’s caption: “This maple in Shinji Suzuki’s tokonoma is in a pot typical of this kind of tree. It works better aesthetically, in two ways. A shallow pot will make the nebari continue spreading, and the delicacy of the trunks is enhanced by a shallower pot. But a maple is also a tree that appreciates water. And a shallow pot will retain more moisture than a deeper one, in a soil-to-soil relative way. It’s a wetter pot.” All the photos in this post are from Crataegus Bonsai.

We’ve been talking about basics a lot lately. Specifically watering, fertilizing and bonsai soil. Might as well get into transplanting while we’re at it. For many of you, the time is right (some of us are still stuck under a heavy snow cover, but we can almost feel the warmth at the end of the long cold tunnel).

A good place to start is with an article by Michael Hagedorn (Crataegus Bonsai) about pot depth for various type trees. You don’t see much on this topic, but it turns out to be critical when it comes to plant health. BTW: Michael is a real bonsai pro and a very good writer and his article bears that out. I won’t say much more except to quote just a bit from Michael and encourage you to visit Crataegus Bonsai.

“Many trees like their roots far away from anything saturated, which is the bottom of the pot. Two in particular, pines and azaleas. And in muddling about the Western bonsai world I’ve been haunted by the number of pines planted in very shallow containers. “ To dig a little deeper, visit Crataegus Bonsai.

 

This White pine is ready for Shinji Suzuki’s inspection and then Kokufu (Suzuki was Michael’s teacher, lord and ruler during his apprenticeship in Japan). This photo is from the previous Crataegus post titled Kokufu, Matt Reel, Snow. Notice that the pot is suitably deep for a pine.

 

“You can certainly plant your pine in a shallow pot (loud thwack of a chopstick on my fingers), but consider mounding it.”