Hey guys. I am doing a workshop next weekend and I wanted to get another opinion before I go. The workshop is red pine transplanting. It includes the tree which is in a 3 gallon nursery can, but not the pot obviously. Before I blindly listen to the instructors suggestion I would like to hear what pot sizes come to mind. Im aware that you never know until you tease away at the soil, but I would just like to get an idea in my head. Thanks.
If you already have a collect of pots your best bet would to bring a variety, so you can accommodate whatever the tree throws at you. Otherwise if you are looking for a pot to buy before hand to take to the workshop you probably want to look for a slightly bigger pot than you think you need and a little deeper since you don’t know what you might have to deal with, so maybe a rectangle that 8 inches or so and like 4 inches deep. Also depending where this workshop takes place if it a look nursery or what they might have pots on hand you could buy that wouldn’t be a bad option if you know prior to.
This is just a first pot, so don’t over worry about it being to big you just don’t want it too huge to point the tree can’t handle it . It is a pine so it does like to be on the drier side of things so if the pot is too large for it just make sure you water carefully and give it a little extra time to dry out.
Hopefully the workshop goes well for you and let us know what you are going with and what the tree looks like.
Okay, thanks. It’s New England Bonsai Garden. They have “thousands of pots” , but I’d prefer to not HAVE to pay whatever price. To be honest I was thinking I would need a much bigger pot than 8 inches, but now I realize that depth is most likely going to be the greatest limitation.
Yea the 8 is on the smaller side when I think 3 gallons I think that between 10 to 11 inches normally, so I assume you can knock a couple inches of soil off the outer size, but if you wanted to be more safe you can do a little bigger. But because this is nursery stock it should have been well cared for and healthy allowing you to take a little more off than a weak tree.
I’d ask that question to the forum once you see the Tree I think you’ll get a quick response. You can do it on the sly:)
Very good point and very good idea. Thank you 
I think i would wait to see the tree before i chose a pot. Im sure Ashley has everything you need there. If nothing else you can put it in a training pot which is way cheaper than a ceramic one.
Enjoy the workshop!
Thank you. I bought a 14,12,10.5 in ovals 
to bring with me. This is my first workshop so i feel like I’m 8 again on Christmas Eve.
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For what it is worth I have done a workshop there before and their low-end pots are priced as good of "quality"as you can typically get online at that entry price point.
I did a black pine styling workshop there with Sergio Cuan ( lol because he is arguably one of the best… with deciduous trees)
Yeah Sergio Cuan is a good shit. They have a ton of pots but I wasn’t able to find one large enough in my price range. I got quite a few smaller pots for future repots though. It’s a pretty cool place. Sort of magical, at least to me. Just as I got there they received their import order from Japan. Hundreds maybe even thousands of satsuki and white pines. All bare root, so incredibly mobile. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about filling up a box and making a run for it.
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That’s awesome. I am pretty close 35 minutes and only went in the fall for that workshop. Would you say it’s worth making a trip this month?
Absolutely. I live in Boston and don’t drive, so I got a ride there. The workshop ran longer than expected but my ride had to go. I wanted to get a few trees while I was there. I emailed them and explained. Pete picked out some bad ass shimpakus and sent pictures for me to pick from. Moral of the story being we have limited bonsai resources in this area, but they are fantastic at what they do.