This past weekend I spent over three hours digging up a large, mature (unidentified) juniper just down the street in my neighbor’s yard. Gorgeous tree. Because it was so heavy, the root ball fell apart trying to get it in the grow box, leaving very little roots. Now it’s secure in the box, protected from sun and wind, and automatically misted on the hour. I’m hoping good aftercare can compensate for the botched extraction. No joke, I’m haunted by what I should have done differently. Does anyone have a story like mine with a happy ending? I could use a pep talk.
Good news is strength is juniper’s comes from it’s foilage and not it’s roots. Hopefully you have enough to keep it alive, sounds like you learned from it regardless of the outcome. Be careful with the constant misting so that the soul is not staying constantly wet, might want to find away to divert it from dropping into the container.
When I’m digging up root balls I use a plastic wrap normally used in the moving industry to keep everything together so that things can’t fall apart. So maybe next time you can try using something like this to keep the root ball tight. I do this as I’m digging to keep the things compact and then can come in from underneath without shaking everything loose. I’ll try and find a photo to show what I mean
This is how I wrap it up. Easier than trying to get shirts and all kinds of other things around it and tied down.
Typically I used Canvas drop cloths (painting industry) but I might be adding the plastic wrap as an easier way to secure the canvas, thanks for sharing!
It would seem like doing ball and burlap might work and the burlap can be planted with in the container and left to rot away so as to minimize root damage. Just a thought I have not tried this with bonsai.
Keep it B&B’ed wouldn’t be the best for bonsai in my opinion because your going to want to maximize the oxygen in the system. The burlap would probably retain too much water that it would be more advantageous to remove it and get it in pumice around the native soil.