It is still officially winter here at Shibui Bonsai but a few warmer nights has stimulated some buds to start growing so I’ve been stimulated to get on with the repotting.

Yesterday I root pruned and repotted all the small shohin sized bonsai. I’ve found that these little ones do better if they are repotted every year. The roots grow fast enough to completely fill a tiny pot in just one summer so the following year it becomes difficult for water and air to penetrate into the root zone and the trees start to suffer.

Starting seedlings through holes in metal plates is not the only way to grow good nebari. I also grow many trees just by regular root pruning to control and direct root growth. Here are some photos to show that method.

In the last post I showed a couple of the trident maples I’m currently digging and pruning.

You may have noticed the very horizontal root spread.

These tridents have been developed using the ‘plate’ method.

At Shibui Bonsai I have finished digging the new root over rock trees so it is time to get on with the rest of the trident maples.

here’s one of the tridents I dug up this week.