Hi guys, my first post here, been very active watching all the videos and the information is mind blowing to say the least. I have a few junipers and maples however recently acquired this 15 year old Hinoki Cypress which is still in its nursery bag.
It is currently the last week of Winter here in New Zealand and I am wondering If I can do an initial styling on it while it is still dormant and then do a partial slip pot into a wider but shallower container, removing only enough of the top soil/roots to expose the Nebari.
Hey Matt, welcome on behalf of everyone here.
Nice find!
Virtually you can expose the nebari at any time of the year without any issues so I’d go for it.
If you don’t have any hard frost you can repot it before it wakes up.
As for styling late winter early spring is when I usually do big moves on coniferous material but doing both at the same time will def weaken the tree. Since your’s is pretty young I think it can handle it. A slip pot and initial styling is ok IMO.
Cheers!
Nice find. You can do the nebari work for sure. I wouldn’t slip pot it unless for some reason you had percolation issues when watering it. Even then I’d just soak the pot in a bucket instead of slip potting it. I think you’re about 2 months away from spring, right? What are your overall plans for the tree? Are you going to go into a bonsai pot soon or a development box?
I have found, based on handling the planter bag more recently, that it is very root bound. Buds are pushing almost now here so we are very close to spring. I was thinking of settling on the repot and nebari for now and leaving the styling for next time. As tempting as diving into styling this tree is.
This is always a solid plan. It also gives you time to think about the design. Often my final design is fairly different than my initial thoughts on the design.
Well I bit the bullet and attacked the soil mass to reveal the Nebari and couldn’t be happier.
This is the first tree I have had where I have taken it from nursery stock and even attempted this operation. Watching a few of Ryan’s Nursery stock re potting videos he seemed adamant that if the tree is full of vigor and foliage as a nursery stock plant it should be the best time to do the re pot as it will have the strength to heal itself afterwards.
My current pots on hand are ether too small or too large so I’m leaving it at this point for a week before a new training pot of 12.4x9,5x3,4" will arrive which I think should be ok.
The remaining soil mass is extremely root bound so this will be a pretty large reduction in overall soil mass so kinda scary.
