hey guys need help. bought beautiful white pine early summer. waited till sheaths came off new shoots, did structual pruning. decided to keep hands off until next spring to repot. we’ve had lots of rain all summer to the point of putting under cover. tree never drys out in nursery pot.always very wet. should i take a chance and repot now to keep roots from rotting this winter?
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You should never just take a chance. Place the tree so you can ensure it gets to dry out a little. Re pot at the correct time. Taking a chance is always going to end up bad. Trust me I know
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@Ohi PATIENCE.
Rem: Do not bare root a pine, only do ~2/3 the first round. Leave some portion untouched. Do not spray roots with water. The microbiom will thank you!
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Watch the pine and nursery repot series…
Post a photo.
Good luck
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Hi @Ohi ,
Is the tree in an organic mix? You may be able to slide the tree out of the pot for a quick peak at the roots? If the tree is looking healthy, I would wait until spring, but if you are concerned for its health you could repot now. We tend to repot in the spring because it has the highest chance of success, but that doesn’t mean you can’t repot at other times of the year, as long as your after care is good.
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If it’s doing well why take the risk?
If you repot it now there’s a high chance of killing it or weakening it significantly.
I’d say try to move it somewhere out of the rain if you’re concerned about it staying too wet and wait 'till spring with the repot.
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As others have said/asked " What’s the rush? Or upside to the risk of an out of season repot?"
Your stated issue is the nursery pot staying wet. So solve THAT. Get the tree off the ground and tilted to drain excess water. Now keep it dry. Putting it under cover is a good first step. I have had to let trees in super saturated nursery mix dry out for a week to ten days to truly dry out.
Slow and easy is the Bonsai pace, except for repotting SZN. 
Good Luck.
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thanks guys for advice. hard to put brakes on sometimes. i have the pot tilted and put it under cover at night case of rain. 90 95 degree days. can’t imagine not watering for 10 days. bonsai people just have a propensity to over water. slip potted to bigger pot with pumice and lava around edges did not touch roots. roots had slimy sheen from nursery pot. tree doing ok so far.
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