Repotting a White Pine

Today is the 13th of February and I Thought I'd start on a lovely bright Note because the sun is shining bright Yesterday was a miserable day with a lot Of cloud and drizzle and damp so how the British weather changes by now those of You who follow my YouTube videos will Know that the British weather is the Most unpredictable thing so what am I Going to do today I have one of my YouTube fans who did a workshop with me Last year and we styled his white pine I Will refer you to the Old Pine and he's Bought it in the middle of February Which is the ideal time for repotting His Pine I want to show you certain Aspects of the spine because there are Certain things which I need to pass on To you which many people don't realize About so here is David from Previous video and he's brought this White pine which we restyle you remember We took the top off And we made it like a semi-casket so We're going to put it in semi Cascade Pot what I really wanted to show you is That This Pine was rather sick so what uh David did was to put it in sphagnum Moss And my famous Magnum Moss trick has Really rejuvenated the tree look at that Wonderful mycelium in there many people Do not understand my serum I still get people who bring their

Points to me and point out that they've Got a fungus or some insects in the soil Which is white and they don't know what It is for those of you who are new to The YouTube videos this is something That I really want to pass on to you so This white stuff is not a disease it is Just a fungal growth we call it my Mycelium or microorizer I don't know how I spell microrizes quite a difficult Word to spell but just believe me it is What we call a beneficial fungus so I'm Going to reduce this root ball this Muscle I'm going to save the most Because Moss is quite hard to get look At look at that beautiful white muscle In everywhere it's really multiplied but What I wanted to show you is that you Mustn't waste this don't throw it away When you put other Pines you should take Some of this because like mushroom spots Because it's a fungal growth you can mix It with other soil and the mycelium will Spread and multiply so this is what you Need to do so I'm going to To use the root ball out and we'll repot This tree I will show you aspects of it As I go along So here we are teasing away And again wherever you look there's Masses of my ceiling and the original Soil is quite a nice gritty soil So the pine seems to have Done well

The roots are not absolutely pot board In fact because we put it in a moss Basket the roots are spread out So let's see how much we'll take off We're going to take enough of the root Ball off to fit this semi Cascade pot Till the shape of the original pot is Still here can you see that's the shape Of the original pot so it was just Placed in a basket of moss and that is The original Root ball the rectangular shape And the history of this tree is that it Is probably bought about more than 35 Years ago when we first started Heron's Bonsai so this tree was purchased more Than 30 years ago in a blue pot I'm Reminded and it has grown ever since That time so I'm sure there are many of These trees still knocking around Uh People who bought them 30 or more years Ago and there you are look at the Massive routes very good conditions so We'll continue doing the report to take Another shot you can see that root ball Look at it all this black soil The compost is a bit old but it seems to Be okay A lot of people are obsessed With the composite it should always be New it should always be like this and That but when you think that trees in Nature they just go and ordering mud I know that in a smaller scale you'll

Need very well draining soil but you see Look at the beautiful roots on this tree I'm going to try and keep as much of This root as possible I don't just cut The root for the sake of cutting a lot Of people believe in cutting so much off But as long as the roots fit the pot I Already take the extremities of the Roots off so you can see how much I have Taken off And I think we are down to must be about Not even 25 percent of the original Drupal when you think that that tree was Growing in that basket which is so big And now we've got it down to this so all That lovely sphagnum Moss has done the Trick Redtube made it healthy And now once we've done that We will put it probably back in the same Sort of soil with just a little more Akadama mixed in it and I'll continue to Use some of this sphagnum Moss mixed in The root board so it's really important To get air into the roots as long as the Soil is not compacted or compacted then The tree will perform well So let's continue And I will take bits of video from time To is the amount of Route we have Managed to tease Look at all that look at all that and I'm going to I would say safely cut Some of these off like that

Think there is sufficient route In there So we've got rid of that much root Reduce the root balls but all the roots Are healthy so there's no fear True suffering so I tried to get this Tree into this pot But because the surface roots are so Nice I think it would get lost in this spot So just for the sake of Pork you see this is slightly bigger This may be a better fit so it's always Better to ER on the side of caution so it may be a Bit oversized for now but at least I can Get it into here without having to Sacrifice some of that surface Roots so I'm going to prepare the spot and get it Into here like so so you can see how Much root we've cut off so the root ball Is nice and compact so there we go all Right So I've got it in the spot at this angle So There's good surface root there and I'm Just Ramming the soil so maybe how much salt Goes into the crevices I've used the mixture of our own soil And some of the old sauce so you can see Our own herons compost is 30 akadama Thirty percent are volcanic good and 30 Percent of fine bark and a bit of loam

Mixed in it different people are Different formula that they use use the One that you are used to and works for You even to this day we are always doing Experiments with different types of soil And we like to try the different types Of soil because different types of soil Perform differently so unless you try it You never know what works So at the moment it seems to be a very Good compost for the UK climate There's no Universal compost a lot of People say oh you've got to use this Compost and they use it whichever part Of the world they live in not so Foreign Trying to get the trunk as Central as Possible I couldn't push it more because There's a very proud root there and Because this is a semi Cascade style you Can still order the Position of the branches To give it the shape you want So this wire was only put on last year So it can continue to be put on the Street or left on the tree for another Year So that's the cascading bit there's a Bit of gender so we need to build that Crown and Create the pad so we've got this semi Cascade look So there you go the pot is a bit Oversized but I didn't want to stress

The tree in a small pot because the Surface Roots would not fit this spot so I had to go for just a slightly larger Part only just about an inch bigger but It made all the difference There you go [Music] Foreign [Music]