AusBonsai

Hi all
i just bought a small cotoneaster plant and planted it into a big bonsai pot to grow i tried to disturb the roots as little as posible as wasn't sure when the best time of the year was to disturb roots, what i'm wanting to know is when is the best time to root prune as none of my books tell me about cotoneasters , what i also want to know is can a person bare root a cotoneaster to arrange the roots etc. i am wanting to grow it as a cascade. any advice would be most welcome
regards
peterb

as they are deciduous? ( i think at least), you can work on them the same times as most other deciduous trees with no worries

Ken

Not deciduous, but a very hardy plant, spring time is best same as most other trees, yes bare root.

Regards
Mick

ooops, I stand corrected then
ken

There are deciduous and non-deciduous Cotoneasters. For ex., the prostrate Cotoneaster horizontalis, C. microphylla (both with very small leaves) and C. thymifolia (tiny leaves!) are deciduous. C. franchetti is not.
Peterb has not provided us with a photo, but since he mentions wanting to train his Cotoneaster as a cascade, I presume it is one of the prostrate, deciduous species. If so, I would repot when the shrub is dormant. With cascades the arrangement of the roots depends largely on the cascade pot; I can't see that bare-rooting is so important.
But other Cotoneasters lend themselves to cascades as well, and in that case my advice re. potting time might not apply.

Lisa

Put a picture up mate, let's have a look.

Hi Guys
I have several Cotoneasters ( all C. microphyllus - "Little-leaf Cotoneaster"; or,"Chinese Rockspray") and all have just started flowering, so I will wait until after the flowering/fruiting seasons before doing anything major to mine, apart from pruning the leggy growth to keep the plant more compact.

I have always worked on the assumptions that:
- You can work on the Cotoneasters any time of the year but transplant or repot before they blossom and certainly no later than December (or whenever it starts to get gets really hot)
- Pruning should, if possible, be done each month by removing unwanted new growth. Prune larger branches before new growth begins;
- Shaping - Cotoneasters are the ultimate Shohin. Style them to be heavy trunked but small;
- Caution: the plants' roots are very sensitive to disturbance between the end of summer and prior to their spring growth in about Sep/Oct.

I would therefore suggest, that on that basis, bare rooting them now should not pose too much of a problem.

Also, see this link to a small article on Bonsai Cotoneaster - http://www.bonsaigardener.org/cotoneaster-bonsai.html

I hope this helps

Also, don't forget that after using any tools on your Cotoneaster to clean them (the tools) thoroughly and well before using the tools on any other Bonsai or plants. Something in the Cotoneaster plant "juices" - not just the sap - makes it lethal to other plants. So if you don't clean the tools properly, you risk killing other plants in your collection.

I have just repotted mine in the Central Highlands and they are doing fine. Where i live Cotoneasters are semi-decidious.

thanks everyone. i think i will repot now then ,should i use freedraining mix or have a bit more organics ,i,attached a foto
regards
peterb