Digging some of my trees

[Ray M]

Hi all,
I needed to dig some of my trees to use at the School Of Bonsai, so thought I would show some pics.

Callistemon
The tree was placed in a colander several years ago and placed on the ground.

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Buxus
These two trees were rescued as they were going to be thrown away. They were placed in colanders and the colanders placed into the ground. These trees have been in the ground for several years.

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Regards Ray

[Ryceman3]

Some nice trees Ray!
I really like the look of the first Buxus on the Seamungus bucket. Interesting trunk/nebari. I'm pretty sure it's a Seamungus bucket it's sitting on because I recently picked some up on your advice!
Good luck with the presentation on Thursday.

Cheers!

[Ray M]

Some nice trees Ray!
I really like the look of the first Buxus on the Seamungus bucket. Interesting trunk/nebari. I'm pretty sure it's a Seamungus bucket it's sitting on because I recently picked some up on your advice!
Good luck with the presentation on Thursday.

Cheers!

Hi mate,
I think both the Buxus will come up okay. That first one certainly has a lot of foliage. Yes, your right it is Seamungus. I use buckets of it.

Regards Ray

[Ray M]

Hi folks,
Just an update on how the trees responded to the repotting.

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Now the hard work starts. What to do with them

Regards Ray

[Beginner Bonsai]

Hi Ray,

Sorry for the beginner question. What is the theory behind the colander pots? I haven't come across it in any books.

[Josh]

Hi folks,
Just an update on how the trees responded to the repotting.

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Now the hard work starts. What to do with them

Regards Ray

Looking good Ray, they seem to have handled the root prune with no issues. looking forward to seeing these develop. I'm just preparing a patch of ground to plant out. I see I may need some more colanders though.

Hi Ray,
Sorry for the beginner question. What is the theory behind the colander pots? I haven't come across it in any books.

If you search some of Rays posts he has done extensive growing in colanders (he got me on to them). I'm sure Ray will expand more but basically the colander helps to control the roots and air prune them when they get to the side. This creates more roots and finer roots. You get a nice tight root ball while still being able to grow your trees on. By the way I used to live in Warragal (shady Creek) a number of years ago. I still call it home to be honest.

Josh

[Ray M]

Hi Ray,

Sorry for the beginner question. What is the theory behind the colander pots? I haven't come across it in any books.

Hi Beginner Bonsai,
I have been using colanders for over 25years. After I started using them I also found out that the Japanese were using also. They were using them for growing Black Pines.
Advantages

• They drain very well
  They prevent the roots from winding around inside the pot. When you remove a tree that has been in a normal black pot, and the tree has substantial roots, you will find that the roots will hit the inside of the pot then twist around inside the pot. With the colanders the roots don't have a hard surface to hit against when they get to the wall of the container. They will tent to come out through the holes. They will self root prune themselves as the sun tends to burn off the roots on the outside of the colander.
  They provide good oxygen to the soil. Isitangus provided a very helpful link to an article that I found very informative, Overpotting
  They work very well when doing ground planting. You can check the following thread, Ground Planting

Hope this helps.

Regards Ray

[Beginner Bonsai]

Hi Ray. Thanks for the reply. I had a look at both links. I haven't had a chance to look at your entire thread, there was understandably quite alot of interest in it. It looks like a good method to promote healthy growth, once I get some space to be planting out in the ground I will definitely give it a try.

The overpotting article is a good one. But, it means I can't be slack and just plant in to a large container once and think it's the same as planting in to the ground.

Cheers,
Andrew