Hello, fellow gardeners! It's time to get some bonsai in! I didn't feel like getting too bogged down so I chose my smallest bonsai tree to work on and thought, 'This should be quick and easy'.
Oops! I already started and I didn't even show you the tree! As I said, it is pretty small and only has three branches. One of them will eventually be removed due to the Rule of 2. Always two there are; no more, no less. No, just kidding I'm not talking about Sith here. I mean the rule in bonsai in which branches and roots subdivide by twos. One branch turns into two small branches which turn into four smaller branches and so on and so forth. My tree has three branches coming from one spot but not much foliage so I'll let it pass (for now).
Look at the length of this root! I knew this tree was starting to get potbound. That root will be one of the first to go.
Finally, all the soil is chipped away and we can see the entire root system. Pretty cool. Not as wild as I expected it to be. So many roots. Where do I even begin?
Looking at the underside gives me a better picture. See the two main roots that form a 'V'? They are so fat and juicy and have the most vigor. These will be pruned hardest while everything else will be pruned lightly, if at all.
With the biggest roots cut back and trying to heal, this gives the smaller roots which I will barely touch more opportunity to grow bigger. The goal is to have vigor evenly distributed. Balanced.
See the small rootlet in the crosshairs of my pruners? I'll be eliminating lots of roots like this one. Why? This one is wrong for many reasons. First, it's growing in the wrong direction. The roots should flow outwards radially from the trunk. Second, the root crosses another root. Mm-mm, another no-no. (This rule applies to branches too. Crossing branches can make the tree look crowded or otherwise off.) Thirdly, the little root is coming from one of the very vigorous roots that I already mentioned need reducing.
I pruned other roots that hit the wall of the pot and bent sideways, crowded roots, and went along enforcing the Rule of 2.
Yikes! I think I got a little too scissor happy. This reminds me of the time I pruned a different citrus tree to its death. This is different though! I think that was a young seedling. Here, we're dealing with a cutting that is about a year and a half old. I would hate to loose this tree after that much time. I'm confident it will survive though because citrus trees make hardy and forgiving bonsai trees.
I thought I was going to have to fasten the tree to the pot with wire again but the moist soil (and gentle handling) were enough to keep it in place. The root system is also slightly more balanced this time around, too, which also helped.
This specimen will not be going outside. The pot is too small and it would probably dry out on a matter of hours. Can you imagine needing to water a plant several times a day? (Well, I already sort of do that with other plants...) Indoors, it is dry-ish by the third day.
And there you have it! Maybe next I will work on my slanted citrus tree. It has grown much in the past few months. Not sure whether to defoliate it, prune the roots, both, or none of the above for now. Its growth has stalled so I have to do something soon.
I'm going to study other examples of slant style bonsai trees in the meantime. See you around!
