Roots on Maples

[Damian Bee]

Having just spent a crispy night out on the potting table, I thought it was worth bringing up a topic about root systems on Maples.
After repotting a dozen little seed grown I noticed a parallel between the growth habit above ground and the growth habit in the soil, the soil for all was of the same batch.

Lack of photos, fingers too mucky to touch the camera.

2 of the Maples have very fine roots and very fine branching, the others have much thicker and robust roots.
Anyone have this experience or is this simply the result of a tree with poor vigour VS a tree with the opposite?
Or maybe just too much night air gone to my head?

[anttal63]

The theory is correct, just a case of knowing what you need and want, then know how to get it. Craig W and Steve Jarrard often talk about this. Again will have alot to do with styling down the bottom too, as well as soil, pot, feeding, position and so on.

[Mojo Moyogi]

Yes. As in trunks and branches, roots increase in Mass, develop Structure and then achieve Ramification.

Cheers,
Mojo

[Andrew E]

The branching of a tree is always a reflection of what is going on in the soil. Long leggy growth = long leggy roots, and vice versa. Part of the reason we use such a coarse soil mix in bonsai is not only to aid in drainage but to force the roots to ramify and therefore ramify the branching up top (as long as you prune). More feeder roots = more leaves.

Andrew

[Jow]

I dont know if it is a clear cut ratio. I have heard the Leggy roots, leggy growth saying but i think that probagbly over simplifies things.


Fine feeder roots draw water, and nutrients from the soil and in turn provide the ingredients for healthy top growth. Because we grow in limited spaces (small pots) we have to maximise the space we have. Thick roots are really just pipes conecting the trunk to the feeder roots at the tips.

What we want in our pot is the maximum amount of feeder roots so that we can maximise uptake. To have a pot full of thick roots is a waste of space and will lead to a pot tree combination that are not maximising the volume of the pot. If you were to prune all the thick roots back and replace with feeder roots then you have increased your nutrient uptake.

Increase the uptake efficiency and you increase health, increase the amount of foliage you can support etc.

To me its all about maximising what you can draw from your soil volume.

I guess a bonsai with a pot full of leggy roots would produce a leggier tree but not so much because it has thick roots, but more because it has less feeder roots per volume and those thick leggy roots occupy space that could be occupied by feeder roots, and in turn the bonsai will have less means to draw nutrients, water etc. and then produce growth.

Thoughts?

Joe.

[Damian Bee]

Jow is spot on.

I am curious about fine soil = fine growth. With all 12 maples in the same soil mix and aspect and all receiving equal treatment, growth above and below ground varied with some having seemingly out of balance growth above and below.
Even my large maple which was grown in mountain soil, (admittedly in a box) had very robust growth which may also be result of feeding too?

[shibui]

I have noticed a correlation between roots and top with trees in the ground.

Trees grown in the ground that have tall, upright growth often have long, vertical down roots. (It is easy to change vertical root growth by rootpruning when potting these up or planting back into the beds)
Trees with spreading branching when grown in the grow beds often have spreading roots.
This has not been quantified so might just be me looking for examples to prove the theory There will always be exceptions in living things but it does seem to be a reasonable generalisation.

Trees with a strong branch will usually have a strong root on that side of the tree but is the branch encouraging the root or does the strong root encourage the branch to grow strongly

When we start to prune top or roots this changes things completely so when in a pot other factors start to play a part as Jow has pointed out.