Repotting the Kiyohime - UK Jan 21st.

Hi,
I live in Cornwall, (usda zone 9), We have been very mild this winter - the high/low thermometer on the bonsai bench has recorded lowest +2 degrees C, highest +12 degrees C. I knew the maples would be stiring soon as the Kiyohime is notorious for waking up first - but January 21st is the earliest I think i've ever had to repot.



The branches at the back were more sheltered and were opening this afternoon so it was action stations. 2 weeks ago I made sure all the potting soil ingredients were here - 25% akadama, 25% kanuma, 10% chopped bark, 35%'superlight' - a black porous pumice type stuff and 5% chopped fresh sphagnum moss.





The tree was cut from the old pot with a razor sharp sickle to make it much easier to lift the root ball out, then i combed out the roots and washed everything with a powerfull hose



I wont be repotting again for at least 5 years so the root prunning is done properly - a third off the width all round, a half of the depth, and all roots directly crossing under the trunk base were removed, then it was hosed again



The pot was changed from the 6" deep 28" oval to a 3.75" deep 28" oval to drop the overall tree lower and to let the tree appear more delicate. I tied the tree in with aluminium wires, gently bedded it in to a mound of soil and filled all the gaps in.



The tree was top dressed with medium sieved akadama, watered well and settled back on the bench. Tomorrow morning I'll add a few more guy wires before the sap starts rising and the tree gets extremely brittle again. I guess it took an hour to do as I was being very carefull with the twiggy 40" wide canopy and all I need to do is protect it against any low temperatures or cold winds.

Here is the tree when i finished, one more picture tomorrow when the wires are done too.



Cheers for now,

Marcus

Weather here is wreaking havoc as well. I just noticed some green buds on my Chinese Quince. Supposed to head up toward 50 F on Monday.

This is a nicely shaped tree - thanks for showing the repotting process. My initial reaction to the new pot is that the color doesn't seem right for this tree, but I'm a beginner...what do I know?

Hi Marcus nice trunk base and spreading roots on your maple , was it a air layer. Mid summer here in NZ lots of thirsty trees to attend.Cheers

coh wrote:.

This is a nicely shaped tree - thanks for showing the repotting process. My initial reaction to the new pot is that the color doesn't seem right for this tree, but I'm a beginner...what do I know?

Hi, cheers, it looks a bit too bright in the pic as the pot was just cleaned, wet and a flash photo too. The cream oval is a 'classic' for a maple and will look pretty good when the tree is in leaf and everything has settled down a bit. This tree was originally in a white rectangle when it was in Dan Bartons collection, then it moved to a cream oval for the last 20+ years but it was 6" deep, this pot is only about 10 years old, so still looks brand new, but it is a much better depth for the tree. My goal is to end up with a Dan Barton pot for this tree so the two are paired up again, but there are a few years of refining to do before it needs the final pot. The tree itself is just washed so does look very dark and green too, once it dries the bark is far more silver in appearance which goes with the pot a bit better .

hi Niel,
Its hard to say but the original tree would have been started in Japan 60 or 70 years ago, either cutting or layer I guess. After a year or two a couple more trunks would have been grafted in to give the 5 in the finished design. The tree came into the UK in 1981 / 82 and belonged to Dan Barton (its in his book on a couple of pages). It moved into a friend of mines collection for about 20 years, then to me last year.

best regards

Marcus

Yes that makes sense. I should have remembered the thread from last year where Bill was testing different pots for his maple. The photo he posted of the "chosen" pot looked a lot like this one - the pot appeared too bright to me. But when I saw it in person, it looked much better.

coh wrote:Yes that makes sense. I should have remembered the thread from last year where Bill was testing different pots for his maple. The photo he posted of the "chosen" pot looked a lot like this one - the pot appeared too bright to me. But when I saw it in person, it looked much better.

yes, it happens a lot with online pictures, I think the glaze bounces the camera image / flash back and distorts the colours, or our eyes compensate in real life maybe?. something happens to glazed colours in digital pictures anyway as unglazed pots look great in all pictures. Once you tweak colours and saturation in editing the tree looks wrong when the pot looks true ! funny old game.

once the patina (dirt, grime and algae !!) is back all will look ok again i think.

cheers Marcus

The thing i really like about cream glazed containers with Maples is that they offer a wonderful foil for all the shifting foliage colors throughout the entire season, from the tender pinks of Spring, clear through to the yellow and reds of Fall. they all look good with cream!

Marcus is this the same tree that was popping buds in december?

Weird season here too, pomegranate just broke buds, quince is probably only a week or two behind it
-Jay

drgonzo wrote:The thing i really like about cream glazed containers with Maples is that they offer a wonderful foil for all the shifting foliage colors throughout the entire season, from the tender pinks of Spring, clear through to the yellow and reds of Fall. they all look good with cream!

Marcus is this the same tree that was popping buds in december?
-Jay

Hi Jay - yes - the tree was just opening in early december on a couple of branches facing the sun. I moved it to the coldest shady section of the bench and turned the advanced side of the tree to the back to slow down bud break as much as possible. We had a few periods of 4 deg C and it stayed dormant for another few weeks.

The tree had to be repotted this year - the last two years it opened in the middle of the winter when more snow and frost was forecast so repotting was skipped (and it doesnt fit through a normal door, even on its side!). the root collar cut off by the sickle circled the pot completely by now and the whole pot was solid roots - watering in mid summer was hard as it was running off the nebari, to the edge of the pot and down the side.

I think you completly hit the nail on the head with the cream pot & maple combo - well put.

Cheers

Marcus