AusBonsai

This is a cascade fig i've been working on. I've just given a trim and wired it up. It's a bit dark to get a good shot of it, but I have a question about potting it up.

I'm concerned about putting it into a good cascade pot in that when it comes to to repot it how will I get it out? I had thought to leave it in a plastic pot and slide it into a proper pot, but this seemed a bit crass. If I put it in a proper bonsai pot will it attach itself to the pot and be difficult to remove for repotting? Or is there a way to remove it that doesn't require breaking the pot?

Cheers
Dan

Dan,

Normally for tight trees, people use an old breadknife and work it around the edge of the pot to ease up the root ball. For a ficus, if it is particularly stubborn, you could probably just use a saw blade and chop right through the roots. Ficus will regrow those roots chop chop.

Cheers,

Andrew

Thanks Andrew for the reply.

I have some knives I use for this already. Neither would be long enough though if the pot is 300 - 400 mm deep

Hi Dansai , mate as long as the pot has reasonable taper and no lip inside it will simple slide out if it is regularly re-potted . If you were to leave it in the same pot for several years then a hammer may be required just to persuade the pot to release the tree .

Alternatively , turn it upside down and wash the soil out with a hose using a jet of water inside the pot but around the outside of the roots , this will reduce the pressure from the roots and soil and the usually slide out quite easy .

Cheers Alpineart

Cheers alpine for the info.

Now all I need to do is find a pot. Bit hard where I live. I do work in Sydney regularly but never have time to get to a Bonsai Nursery. I was in Terry Hills recently so went to Megumi's but nothing there that was suitable.

Here's a few better pics.

Hi Dansai, mate do a Google search on cascade pots , with a bit of luck you may come across a stockist in your area or someone who does have one , may package and post the item to you .

Cheers Alpine

Which is the front of your cascade?

The first picture shows roughly the front. The second picture is from more above to show the branch placing. It was a hard tree to photo and convey its shape and feeling.