AusBonsai

Hi AusBosnai Conmunity

Firstly - Gday and thanks for building such a helpful resource.

I bought a few trees at a sale yesterday. An old bonsai enthusiast had passed away and his family wanted the next generation. enthusiasts to enjoy his amazing collection.

Amongst my purchases was a large older juniper. It looked a little brown, but the price was amazing and I thought it just needed water. After bringing it home I cleaned out the interior and gave it a water. I noticed straight away that the water ran off the top of the roots and what water did stick around only slowly seeped in. Noting came out of the drainage holes. I tried to lift it out of the pot for a peek at the roots. It wouldn’t budge. I ended up having to smash the pot. As expected the roots were extremely bound (photos attached). If you look closely you will even see that they have eaten the drainage mesh (couldn’t be removed with tweezers) and there was a pocket of Slaters in one of the holes. I didn’t touch the roots at all and have just put it in a bigger pot surrounded by some Bunnings bonsai soil.

Is this a tree a lost cause?

Thanks for any advice. If there is nothing to be done, a tombstone emoji is all the feedback I need.

Cheers[image][/image]

I don’t think this tree is a lost cause at all.
The roots seem pretty packed in but they look healthy enough, as does the top of the tree... both good signs.
The problem you have is to really work the roots now is not the ideal time of year. I don’t have enough experience with juniper or Canberra weather to provide definitive info so I’ll leave that to others with greater knowledge of both.
Your problem with the slip pot fundamentally though is the water will still take the path of least resistance, and so bypass soaking through the rootball and instead just drain through the new, uncompacted soil. You need to open up the rootball to allow water to penetrate... perhaps using a screwdriver or something to create holes in the rootball might help or scraping back the top surface might help create an avenue in for the water. The other option is soaking the entire base occasionally to allow water to permeate before you do proper root work when the timing is better.
Like I said, I defer to others more knowledgeable with juniper and Canberra, but these are the basics I see that are in need of addressing for your tree to survive.
Good luck, it looks like there is plenty of potential in it.

All of what Ryceman has told you is correct.
Most of my bonsai roots look like this by the time I get round to repotting. It only takes a healthy trident maple a year or 2 to get this full of roots and almost all of my trees have swallowed the drainage mesh when I repot. You may even find that the interior is not too bad because the first place roots end up is the bottom and the edges of the pot so the outside of the rootball usually looks far worse than it really is.

Monitor water levels of the interior carefully but there should not be too much of an issue now that weather is cooler, higher humidity and more rain through winter. A chopstick in the root ball can be useful to check interior moisture. Leave it in there and pull out to see if it is damp to gauge real sub surface moisture.
A thorough repot in spring is in order.
You might like to thin out the top a bit through winter. It is very dense and most interior shoots are likely to have died off by now. Extra light will help with back budding along bare branches.

Thanks Ryceman and Shibui. First of all, that’s super reassuring. But mostly, that gives me some good starting points.

I’ll check the moisture levels using the chopstick technique, and if it’s looking dry, I’ll gently make a few openings to help water flow through. I am also certainly going to thin out the top over winter and then repot in spring.

Will start up a new thread so you can follow the progress of the tree if you’re interested.

Gary, hi and welcome to the Ausbonsai gang.
I should have gone to that sale, how were the other trees that you bought?

Submerging the complete pot containing the rootball in a bucket of water with some added seasol for 5 minutes will ensure that all of the rootball, inside and out, has been touched by what it loves......

Thanks for the tip Juan!

Watto - without trying to make you regret your decision further, I can confirm that the sale was a cracker. I bought five trees all up. Four junipers - the one in the photo, a tree in developement with some initial styling and two trees deep in development. And I bought one pine - I’m 90% sure it’s a Scotts. It’s been styled and shaped but needs work. It has three large whorls and some reverse taper.

Except for the big juniper, all the trees seem as heathy as I expected. The two bushy junipers have been used for cuttings and need time before they start growing-on again.

I can send through photos if you’d like.