Sunday 3 May 2015

Beech potting


Today I moved this beech over into a proper pot. I am almost settled on the design and I will do the final wiring over the next few days. There is one big branch to be removed - but I am going to do it slowly and make the most out of the deadwood. 



The shape and size of the pot were dictated by the shape of the large roots and depth of the root ball. In addition I wanted a pot with a bit of height to accentuate the windswept nature of this tree. Its positioned up as close to the side of the pot as possible.



I did my usual drainage layer of large hydroponic pebbles.

Once I was done settling it into the pot I reused some of the original bonsai soil and supplemented it with a coarser mix that I prefer. This mix was quite fine and the roots weren't stellar. In my experience the beech grows well in quite a coarse mix. 

I included a lot of organic material (pine bark) in the mix to give the soil flora something to hang onto.



I had a choice of pots and went with the tall one in the end. Nice to have a choice of good quality pots to work with.



Condition of the roots in the nursery pot was not bad. I tried not to disturb them too much, other than loosening the edge of the ball and fitting it into the new pot.