When to do root work for tubestock

[Mickeyjaytee]

Hi all,

Mickey again with another question. The title doesn’t overly explain my question well enough so here goes. I like to grow natives from tube-stock due to myself finding quite a few natives become very brittle quite early and I can start on movement early plus, I like to watch them grow

I bought various natives last year and out of the tube I did initial root work to try untangle/avoid curling roots etc etc. This year I’ve had a look and, nearly all of the stocks roots have twisted and overlapped creating big circular unsightly nebari. I did upsize the pots considerably but, I will say I used quite a few different sizes to test.

I guess my question is, when growing from tubestock, how often can/should I prune the roots to avoid this? I thought 1 year would be fine but, I was wrong and most of these plants will be heading to the verge now. I found the Melalucas to have very aggressive root growth, Kunzea baxteri and pulchella were quite fast too. Kunzea ambigua wasn’t AS fast but, I haven't been able to get them to survive the next prune even though they are very healthy. I’m going to say it’s the pots. The roots just hit the edge and twist around but, I don’t have much space anymore to plant them in the ground. Can natives take multiple root prunes in a year?

I recently got a few Baeckea virgata minima which I have done the initial root prune/sort the roots out but, am now worried I don’t know how long I should wait for before doing round 2 to avoid a gnarly twisted nebari.

Any help would be epic, you all are always so helpful!

Thanks

[dansai]

I would be happy to do repotting of natives a couple of times a year, or even more. Commercial nurseries will up-pot (put in a bigger pot) 2 to 4 times a year in order to get good growth and ensure stock doesn't stay too long in the nursery. However they generally don't disturb the roots. This is fine if repotted before they get root bound, not so good when they take a root bound plant and just shove potting mix around it. The tangled mess of roots that you have outlined just gets worse. I steer away from advanced plants now for that reason. Correcting bad roots takes longer than growing good roots while developing a tree.

Even tube stock can have crappy roots when I get it. I either untangle them and lay them out when repotting, cut them short and hope for the best, or bury them deep in the pot and hope for new roots to form above the older ones so I can cut them off later. The last option I use if I know the tree is capable of forming new roots from the trunk. This includes many natives that I have grown. I have come across one issue with this technique however. I have 2 Syzygium smithii var minor's that I got as advanced stock, both of which had been potted deeper on each increase in pot size. They continually produce suckers from under the root base as there is trunk below that has buds. One I have done major surgery on to remove as much trunk as possible and it still produces suckers, though much less than it used to. The other I will probably have to chuck as the main trunk has died in favour of the suckers.

If you are concerned with potentially losing or setting stock back, regular repotting without removing roots, but still arranging them, is probably your best bet. Although some trimming of long roots is ok. My more advanced material I can be pretty brutal with repotting and often remove more than 70% of the root mass. As long as there is fine roots they all seem to do fine. They make take a little while to kick back to rapid growth, but I would prefer to know I have good roots close to the base than have a well developed trunk/branches/foliage that will be set back by large root removal to get into a smaller pot.

[shibui]

Very experienced native bonsai growers in Melbourne assure me that most natives can be safely repotted any time of year. I seem to remember PUP saying the same thing from Perth Though in my cooler climate I have had problems root pruning natives through the colder months.
As far as I know it is more about timing and root recovery than how long between operations.
I guess that means you should be able to repot several times a year if necessary

My question is whether multiple root pruning is actually necessary. I've grown many from cuttings and seed and don't seem to have the same issues with roots. Commercial stock DOES have this issue as they start with tiny pots and up pot for growth and expediency bit once roots are untangled or chopped short it should not occur again unless you use small pots.
Try root pruning several times a year if you wish but I'd also encourage you to explore other ideas and methods such as using adequate pot sizes or good root pruning techniques

[treeman]

I guess my question is, when growing from tubestock, how often can/should I prune the roots to avoid this?

As for most other plants, once/year. You actually want the roots to hit the inside walls of the pot because that's when the growth really gets moving. You cut off these circling roots and arrange the nebari once per year. Use a slightly wider pot each year or every 2 years. Cutting more often than this will be nothing but counter productive. (expect for weeping willows)

[Mickeyjaytee]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I appreciate it. Pot width, that’s it. I upsize the pot but, generally they aren’t too much wider. Ordered some proper wider pots so hopefully I can avoid the circling roots.

Geez I make silly mistakes I managed to find some space so planted a couple of the Baeckea in the ground. Hopefully the roots don’t go too far. I did arrange them.

I agree with the tube stock tangle. Some of them are shocking. I might do the sneaky sneaky and take a peek next time I’m there to make sure all is good. Otherwise I guess I have a heap of plants for cuttings/air layers.

Thanks again all.