repotting fig and maple into grow box

[michael bonsai]

Hi all!

im new to the forums and just bought my first trees. I have a small PJ Fig and a small maple. I was just wondering if i would be able to put them into some larger pots to give them some room to grow and bulk up as the pots i got them in are quite small. Is it the wrong time to do this? are there any tips i need to know before trying this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Michael.

[Steve Warren]

Welcome to Ausbonsai Micheal,

I have only been here for 5 months myself, you will find these forums a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. I will not profess to be one that provides the knowledge or inspiration but I will share what little I know. I just recently (within last 4 weeks) repotted 6 PJ figs into larger pots and boxes. I washed all of the existing soil from the roots and in some cases pruned the roots while I was at it. All of the PJ's are growing strong again. Another larger PJ I dug from a friends garden only 2 weeks ago, removed 70% of the roots and 90 of the foliage, into a poly box with a good bonsai mix and already I have have new shoots energing from the trunk (all trees placed in shady area for 2 weeks after reot and pruning). This advice may not be the purists way of doing things, but it has worked for me. I think you will find the PJ's are almost indestructable. With the maple I think you are supposed to wait until the tree is dormant in winter.

Regards

Steve W

[shibui]

Hi Michael,
Its getting a little late to be rootpruning figs - they rarely die, just sulk and not grow all winter then shoot off when it warms up a bit in spring - but you should be able to pot it on into a larger pot without cutting roots and I doubt it will even miss a beat, especially up there. It won't matter what the rootball looks like this time because you can cut back really hard next summer to get a better root arrangement.
If you can look after your maple in its current small pot until late winter I'd repot it then because you can rootprune and rearrange roots then more safely and I would guess your tree will need some root work to promote a good nebari. It is only a few months until maple repotting time so you probably won't gain much by slip potting like I suggested with the fig but if its easier to look after in a larger pot it probably won't hurt if you just pot it on without cutting roots back.

If you do slip pot them into larger pots keep a close eye on them for a while. If the mix they are currently in is vastly different to the new mix it is sometimes difficult for moisture and even roots to cross from one to the other so it is possible for the rootball to dry out or stay too wet even though the new mix looks fine. Not always an issue but worth watching out for.

[michael bonsai]

ok i'll let the maple be for the time being and ill give the PJF some more room tomorrow.

Thanks for all the great advice guys!

[Ray M]

Hi Michael,
Welcome. I hope you will enjoy the group and learn lots.

If you repot the trees, give them a good drink of Seasol. This will help them recover. You can give them a drink each week until you see new shoots appearing.

Regards Ray