Jbp reporting ok now?

[Scooter_M]

Hey guys just a quick one, just picked up a. 8 year old black pine for cheap being a bit sick, needs to get out of it's pot and get all new soil. Is it ok to do that now or try and keep it going to next autumn?

Cheers

[bonsaisensation]

Hi scooter
Being in Melbourne it's too late to do heavy root pruning. If the tree is weak, I'd only lightly tease out the perimeter of the root mass and slip pot it into fresh potting mix. Once it regains its strength, you can root prune it properly in early spring. I look for when the new spring candles are elongating but before the needles open up.

Regards

[Boics]

As a general rule I've never had an issue with removing a tree from a potbound state, giving the roots a light tease and re-potting - AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR.
I personally wouldnt' force new soil in totality right now but would loosen and remove as much as possible with as little impact as possible until next spring.

Now this process is only my observations, in my climate and with my tree's.

[Scooter_M]

Hey guys, just to clarify, im not after a root prune or anything, its just that the root ball its bulging out of the top of the pot by about 3/4 inch. its quite wabbely, but does have some recent fresh strong growth on the tips. The top of the soil also looks like its starting to form a white mold. I suspect what happened was this was dropped and quickly stuffed back into the pot, and over watered to try and compensate. i think the tree is healthy enough right now, but it wont last too long if i don't get it into fresh free draining soil.

Will pull it out when i get home and get off as much moldy soil as i can, and get it into afresh mix and better planted in the pot. Will send a before and after pic.

Cheers guys.

[Daluke]

From my understanding, the more fungus the better. The tree's roots need the fungus to survive.

[rodm]

Hi Scooter
That white mould in the rootball is more than likely to be a symbiotic fungus call mycorrhizae. Very beneficial for JBP's and should not be remove. Photo would be good to I'd your fungus. Leong Kwong's book on pines has entire chapter about it, check it out
Cheers Rod

[shibui]

In my experience you cannot get rid of all the mychorriza. Even bare rooted some will still remain and grow again but that is not what this thread is about.

It would be quite alright to scrape off any excess mychorriza and any spare soil, tease out a few outer roots if you can and repot into a slightly larger pot. As Boics states - any time of year for slip potting with little root removal is quite ok.
Pines can survive better than most very potbound but they do start to starve easily and start to turn yellowish colour. Plenty of fertiliser and they go green again and will build up strength for serious repotting next spring.

[Scooter_M]

Hey guys, cheers I did the repot last night,maybe have disturbed more of the roots than what I was intending, but the soil was really poor. Photos below before, showing worst part of the soil from with in the pot,and after







After



Now I just need some inspiration for the style!

[kcpoole]

Now I just need some inspiration for the style!

I cannot see anything else but a nice literati in this.
Tall slender trunk with no taper and that sharp bend at the top for a dramatic apex bend.

Ken

[EdwardH]

I'm with you Ken - Literati

[Brian]

make sure you add back that white suff (mycelium ) to your new potting mix.