Pot now or not

[paul smedley]

Hi Gurus of Ausbonsai.
I have just come into a couple of plants which i intend to train later, 2 of which are bare rooted and the others are fine in their current pots. The bare rooted ones have a good sized root ball and all their original soil. my question is whether i should just toss them into a pot for now or start their training in a colander. I feel that if i just put them in a couple of pots with normal mix they should be quite fine through the winter and be ready to fuss around with late winter and early spring. Is this a good idea and am i on the right track?
Ta heaps. P

[KIRKY]

It would help to know what the plants are that are bare rooted to be able to supply correct advice.
Cheers
Kirky

[paul smedley]

It would help to know what the plants are that are bare rooted to be able to supply correct advice.
Cheers
Kirky

Good grief, sorry a bout that.
One is a mexican cypress and the other one its styrax formosana. they were both from a great ebay seller that i have bought form for a very long time. Yes i know.. ebay (such a bad word when talking plants!)

[KIRKY]

These are both deciduous so see no reason why you can’t pot them into colanders now. I am assuming they aren’t that large/established so just be gentle with the roots and try leave as much of the roots as possible when repotting.
Cheers
Kirky

[paul smedley]

These are both deciduous so see no reason why you can’t pot them into colanders now. I am assuming they aren’t that large/established so just be gentle with the roots and try leave as much of the roots as possible when repotting.
Cheers
Kirky

Thanks Kirky.
they are 2 years old so not too established. i will whisper kindly to them when i open them tomorrow.
Cheers P

[shibui]

Either way will be fine. As deciduous trees they are not going to do anything much over winter anyway so just parking them somewhere for winter would be OK and doing a decent job of root pruning in late winter would be my #1 option.
It appears that potting most trees as they enter dormancy is OK. I have had some problems with Chinese elms as they seem to get infection through the cut roots in cold soil in winter. Not such a problem when root pruned closer to growth as the roots heal quicker.

I guess it comes down to how much root pruning is required. IMHO really good root pruning now will pay off when the trees have grown. Small tangled roots now will just grow into large tangled roots and be far more difficult to deal with after the trees are bigger.
You should also give consideration to the soil these are currently in. Garden soil or poor quality potting mix can cause many problems later. I find it best to remove all older soil before potting into my preferred mix. That way there are far fewer issues with watering down the track.

[paul smedley]

Either way will be fine. As deciduous trees they are not going to do anything much over winter anyway so just parking them somewhere for winter would be OK and doing a decent job of root pruning in late winter would be my #1 option.
It appears that potting most trees as they enter dormancy is OK. I have had some problems with Chinese elms as they seem to get infection through the cut roots in cold soil in winter. Not such a problem when root pruned closer to growth as the roots heal quicker.

I guess it comes down to how much root pruning is required. IMHO really good root pruning now will pay off when the trees have grown. Small tangled roots now will just grow into large tangled roots and be far more difficult to deal with after the trees are bigger.
You should also give consideration to the soil these are currently in. Garden soil or poor quality potting mix can cause many problems later. I find it best to remove all older soil before potting into my preferred mix. That way there are far fewer issues with watering down the track.

thanks Shibui, that makes sense to me.
Potting mix hasn't arrived yet so i think i could create a "pretend' bonsai mix to tide them through after i have got rid of the previous soil on them. your thought of the root trim i will look at for the cypress but i am a bit reluctant to do it to the styrax as it is so rare. that i may wait on until spring. i suppose i can use this advice for most of the plants i have too.
Thanks again. P

[shibui]

Temporary storage does not have to be fancy. When I dig the trees from the grow beds each winter I just shove all the trees in a hole and bury the roots with garden soil until I am ready to deal with them. No need for fancy potting mix or proper potting. Even air pockets don't matter. Just need to keep the sun and wind off the roots so they do not dry out.
Have you noticed the bare root trees at a nursery in winter? Roots are usually just covered with damp shavings or sawdust or anything and those trees are expected to (and do) stay alive right through winter like that.

By all means treat the styrax as special until you can grow a couple more to play with.