Transplanting is the removal of a plant, including its roots, from where it was planted. This always poses a risk to the plant, so you should never repot a bonsai for the sake of it. Look at your tree and it will give you clues as to whether or not it needs a transplant. many people wonder when to transplant a bonsai so that he can grow properly.
For this reason, we are going to dedicate this article to telling you when to transplant a bonsai and what aspects you must take into account to do it well.
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When to transplant a bonsai
By transplanting, we also renew the strength of the tree and promote its growth, which is very necessary for bonsai, because to form them they must endure tasks such as pruning, pinching, leaf stripping, practices very demanding plants. So, it is recommended to transplant every 1 or 2 years for a young or mature tree, or every 3-4 years when it is already a mature treeas an additional maintenance task.
The best time to transplant is when the tree begins to sprout after a period of winter dormancy. In this way we will take advantage of the moment when the roots begin to grow and we will avoid the risk of frost, which is more pronounced in potted trees.
Graft substrate
The main characteristic of the best bonsai soil is that it drains sufficiently, allowing pores to develop so that the roots can breathe. For that It should be a substrate with a coarse hard or semi-hard grain that takes time to break down.
When making a mixture, it should be expected that it should last at least as long as the bonsai can stay in the same pot without collapsing. To do this, combine a semi-rigid substrate like akadama with a harder substrate like limestone or paulownia.
- Weak leaf trees: 90% akadama + 10% apple
- evergreen: 80% akadama + 20% apple
- Coniferous: 20% akadama + 80% apple
- Olive: 40% akadama + 60% apple
These substrates are inert soils that do not provide nutrients, so in addition to irrigation, adjustments are required by the user due to high drainage. The task is a little trickier for beginners, so you might as well start with terrabonsai, a prepared mixture of peat, coco, volcanic rock and akadama that retains more water and provides nutrients.
When you learn your bonsai will determine which granularity to use. For young trees that have just formed, a coarse-grained growing medium is suitable to promote strong root development, while a fine-grained or small-grained growing medium will be suitable for older trees to control root development. fine roots, etc. .
The size of the pot should be 2/3 of the total height of the bonsai. If the pot is too big, it will take longer for the soil to reach the temperature needed for root growth. After transplantation, there will still be areas that have not been occupied by the root system in a moist state for a long time, which will lead to the rotting of the root system.
How to transplant a bonsai
During the transplant, we will remove the old soil and cut the roots to regenerate them, removing those that are in poor condition and the oldest roots, these are different from the finer roots that interest us because there are many darker colors
You can cut 1/3 of the roots that were in the potbut by cutting so many roots, we must also cut a similar number of twigs to balance the strength of the tree.
Although we are going to use a specific substrate for our bonsai that drains well, if we pass it through a colander or sieve before using it, we will eliminate the slightest dust that can clog the pores.
We take the tree out of the pot (if the substrate in the pot is too tight, we can remove it with a spatula) and look at the type of soil. If it is a granular substrate, the clod is too wet for us to handle it, so we let it dry so as not to damage the roots, so the earth will fall more easily. If the substrate is very viscous, soak it in water for 24 hours to soften it and let it spray apart.
Removing the old soil from the center of the root ball is very important because normally we are going to use another type of substrate, the roots will find two different environments during their growth process, with different drainage and humidity retention, this which will be very difficult for them. They find it difficult to live in these different conditions.
If the substrate we are going to use is of the same type as the existing substrate, and the degradation is not too severe, we can only remove one third of the whole rootball, including top, bottom and sides. For this operation we will use a root spreader or even a very pointed bamboo skewer. We will comb the roots working towards the trunk.
Once the roots are laid out, we will try to balance their growth, pruning the thickest ones more and the thinnest ones less (as can be done with the branches). We will take advantage of this moment to eliminate dead or damaged roots and correct the bad orientation of the root, using a concave pruner to ensure that the wound heals well.
We will remove the roots that grow downwards from below and support those that grow to the sides. This is a very important time in the formation of the nebari (collar), as we only get the opportunity to do it every few years. During this operation it is necessary to prevent the roots from drying out in contact with the air, for this they can be sprinkled with water.
Preparing and filling the jar
The pots have holes in the lower part to facilitate drainage, but in order not to lose the substrate, we must first cover them with some grids, we will fix them with wire hooks, we will pass them through U-shaped, we will take them out of the pot from the inside to the outside of the mesh, then fold the ends by sticking them to the bottom of the pot
In addition, we will prepare some wires to pass through the same holes (unless the pots come with holes for this purpose), this will allow us to fix the tree in the pot and facilitate its rooting, avoiding moves that can break it. New fragile roots.
At the bottom of the pot we will place a drainage layer consisting of coarse-grained volcanic gravel or the same mixture. Then we will make a mound with the already prepared substrate. We will put the tree on the mound, move it a little and make sure that the soil is in good contact with the roots.
We choose the place of planting well and we avoid placing the tree in the center of the pot, since once the operation is done we won’t be able to do it again for at least two years. We will tie the tree with the wire we have prepared and then we will finish the filling.
We will have to introduce it with a pointed bamboo stick to lower the soil, if we do not do this, in addition to avoiding air pockets between the roots, the level of the soil will drop when watering and we will leave airy roots.
I hope with this information you can learn more about when to transplant a bonsai tree step by step.