Re: Is there an answer??
- Subject: Re: Is there an answer??
- From: &* G* <p*@gmail.com>
- Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2008 23:49:49 -0800
On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 8:29 PM, Tony and Moira <tomory@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> It is I suppose somewhat akin to the Bonsai technique which I have seen but not
> myself practiced.
> Mind you, I would not myself chose such a large tree to miniaturize in this
> way. It seem akin to cruelty!
That is essentially the technique in bonsai user to keep trees small.
You pull the tree out of the pot, remove as much old soil as possible,
gently tease the roots to find the long encircling roots while making
sure not to tear and damage the roots. The long roots, or those which
are dead or damaged are trimmed back (to smaller than the size of the
pot). For those bonsai with really dense mats of roots, wedges are
usually cut out of the rootball in a radial pattern. All of this is to
allow new feeder roots to form. Root sensitive plants get gradual
rootball shaving in order to reduce shock and resentment, so people
have been able to turn plants like Leptospermum and Arctostaphylos
into bonsai.
I'm beginning to wonder if I should carefully dig up the Grevillea
robusta I planted and give it a good root pruning? It was fairly
rootbound since most people at the nursery in which I found it seemed
to have passed it up and the bottom of the pot was bulging. It's still
alive, but it seems to be slow to do much (I did see new shoots
forming today). Would it tolerate a drastic root prune or would it
end up in plant heaven?
