Cedar - White Roots

[one_bonsai]

It's the end of winter here in Melbourne and the temperatures are still around 14C. I have a Atlantic Cedar that I was planning on transferring to a bonsai pot when the weather warms up in spring but I just had a look at the roots and I see a few white roots. Should I repot now or wait?

White Roots.jpg

[shibui]

I believe that C. atlantica is the more sensitive cedar. I have heard reports of them dropping needles when repotted early in spring. One experienced grower said he preferred to repot in mid summer and had no trouble with leaf drop at that time of year.
I've repotted young trees in spring and have not seen any ill effects. I suspect that this one is still pretty young too so it will still be quite resilient.

Any tree should always have some white tips on the roots. A tree can only get feed and water through the active tips so there's always some.
Active roots are good when repotting. That means the roots will recover quickly when they are cut.

[one_bonsai]

I decided to repot it. There was only a small amount of white roots, basically the white roots in the photo were the only roots that were white.

It was quite pot bound so I had to rake out the roots to untangle them and remove some of the soil mix, but I only did this to the bottom half of the root mass. The upper half of the root mass was left un-touched. I only removed a small amount of roots, about a handful. I just spread the roots out to get it into the pot rather than remove them. Then watered in with Seasol.

Even though the root ball was un-touched I still don't know if it was too much root disturbance for a Atlantica Cedar. I reduced the root mass by half.

I guess the only thing left to do is to watch it die.

Cedar Roots 2.jpg

[KIRKY]

Are you sure its an Atlantic Cedar? Looks more like Deodar Cedar to me.
Cheers
Kirky

[one_bonsai]

Definitely Atlantic

[Matthew]

Are you sure its an Atlantic Cedar? Looks more like Deodar Cedar to me.
Cheers
Kirky

Im with Kirky id be 90% sure its deodar but I could be wrong.......

[one_bonsai]

The card stuck in the pot said "Cedar Atlantica".

[TimS]

Looks like Atlantic Cedar to me, maybe the downward photo makes it look more weeping?

[KIRKY]

I wouldn’t go by the card in the pot. People take them out to read at nurseries and can put them in the wrong pot or could even be mislabeled. To me the “leaf” structure is wrong for an Atlantic Cedar. I have both Atlantic and Deodar an this looks more Deodar.
Cheers
Kirky

[treeman]

Count me on the Atlantic side..
The trouble with the roots on these is that they are very long and unbranched (not exactly unbranched of course but that's the tendency) and the white roots are only at the tips of the long root strands. (it's not true that they can only take up water at the tips but some nutrients - yes) Anyway, With young trees the roots are very long and there is no real alternative but to prune them. Cedars do not like this at all. It can set them back but 9 times out of 10 they recover. When your tree if finally 20 years old there are many root braches from all the previous repottings so root pruning becomes less of a problem but they are always more sensitive than pines and you need to keep this in mind. Don't water too much after root cutting. Give it a couple of months before you water heavily. In other words, let it almost dry out between waterings.

[one_bonsai]

...let it almost dry out between waterings.

What's the reason for letting it dry out? I was thinking the opposite, make sure it's moist at all times.

[one_bonsai]

A better photo

Untitled.png

[treeman]

...let it almost dry out between waterings.

What's the reason for letting it dry out? I was thinking the opposite, make sure it's moist at all times.

Whenever we say ''let it dry out'' in horticulture we mean allow between 50 and 75% of the moisture in the medium to evaporate. Not all of it.
Sorry I should have been more clear..

[treeman]

...let it almost dry out between waterings.

What's the reason for letting it dry out? I was thinking the opposite, make sure it's moist at all times.

Whenever we say ''let it dry out'' in horticulture we mean allow between 50 and 75% of the moisture in the medium to evaporate. Not all of it.
Sorry I should have been more clear..
The reason is that the roots are not very functional and letting it dry out a bit stimulates new root tips. Too much water can lead to rot. You can spray the top as much as you like as long as it does not drip onto the soil.

[one_bonsai]

Though I'd give an update. To my astonishment, new buds popped up all over after the root prune.

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