Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden

Renewal June 4th, 2012

Top page 　　　　　Profile　　　　　Study 　　　　Hobby


Repotting the big trees in March


When you grow satsuki in pots, it is one of the most important daily cares to repot them before the pots are filled with their roots. If you don't do so timely, they will die in several years after you repotted them because their roots cannot catch the fresh water and air. And if you don't repot satsuki bonsai correctly, they will be weak gradually after your third repotting and may die.

Though I already introduced "the details of my repotting of satsuki trees in 2011" in Renewal April 23rd, 2011, I would like to tell you when I have to repot them and introduce the process of repotting them and their figures in blooming.

Section 1. The sum of repotting of satsuki bonsai in Japan

As it is very hot in summer in recent years in Japan, a lot of enthusiasts wouldn't like to repot satsuki bonsai after pruning in June and early July. They recognise that it is difficult for them to make them grow strongly and have a lot of flower buds because of the scorching sunshine if they don't have any shading over them. Therefore they repot them in January, February and March if they have their own greenhouses. And they don't wash the roots in order to enjoy the flowers. But some of them repot their trees after pruning them drastically and washing the roots by the end of March so that they may grow strongly and have good flowers in the next year.

Though I have a lot of satsuki trees on the shelves and in the nursery, I don't have any greenhouses. Therefore I mustn't repot bonsai in winter. Besides I have to prune a lot of trees in the nursery from the beginning of February to about 10th of March. And I give all of my satsuki trees some kinds of fertilisers. After pruning pine trees in the pots and in our garden I begin to repot big trees on about March 20th.

About 15 years ago I recognised the big trees which I had grown from the cuttings were losing their strength because I had continued to enjoy their flowers and repot them after blooming. Therefore I decided to prune them drastically, remove the soil, wash their roots and repot them in late March and early April because the soil under the sphagnum isn't frozen and because the daytime is longer day by day. And this idea was very useful because I could shorten some days for pruning of a lot of trees after blooming.

As we had a lot of rainy days in Ise in last February and March, I finished pruning the trees in the nursery after much delay. But fortunately it was very cold in last March: I couldn't have repotted them in the middle of last March even if I had had a lot of time to do so because I don't have any shelters except the garage which I always use as my working place to repot them. We mustn't froze the soil in the pots completely after repotting. This year I began to repot on March 24th and finished repotting 11 big trees on April 2nd.
　
But I continue to repot a lot of small satsuki bonsai and young trees after enjoying their flowers. Of course the saplings had better be repotted in March and April without flower buds. If you would like to check the colours and shapes of the flowers, you may prune and repot them after blooming.

Section 2. Repotting to enjoy satsuki flowers

A. The conditions to enjoy satsuki flowers after repotting

Fortunately my brother and his wife helped me to build a shading structure with iron pipes and black nets three years ago, which he uses over the green tea trees for about 2 weeks before cutting the very young shoots so that they may reduce the sunshine by 75 %. I think it is best for the health of my satsuki bonsai that I close them at 8:00 and open at 16:00 in summer, and do so at 10:00 and at 14:00 in middle of September, and stop doing do at the end of the month. Of course in the morning I have to water all of my satsuki and other trees on the shelves. But though I have to water small trees and young trees in the evening, I do nothing but wet leaves, trunks and branches of big trees with water in the evening, and sometimes at night again. This structure doesn't save me any labour but the fee of water.

The shading structure built on August 21st and 22nd, 2009. The photo was taken on June 3rd, 2012.

Having built these good conditions, I decided to enjoy the flowers of the big Kaho last year because it had very good roots when I removed the soil and washed the roots. After repotting it, I pruned it and removed four fifths of the flower buds. Though I knew that it would weaken a little bit even if it had a small number of flowers, I preferred to make it have them because I thought how long I would be able to live and see the beautiful satsuki flowers. I was 68 years old at that time.

This was a good idea. But I couldn't see the beautiful flowers of the Kaho last year because I left Chubu International Airport for England via Helsinki only to do my best concerning satsuki bonsai as a volunteer on 5th June, and came home on 20th. My wife, Miyoko, said to me, "The flowers were good and beautiful."

B. My practice of repotting

I decided to enjoy the flowers of some big trees after repotting them into good bonsai pots from very large terracotta when I made a calendar of taking care of satsuki bonsai in last January. And I didn't prune Koka, Korin, Nyohozan and Kusudama drastically before removing the soil. It is most important to know whether they have good roots or not if we would like to see their flowers after repotting. Therefore I removed the soil carefully and washed their roots.

Korin repotted on March 25th. Height = 41 cm. Circumference = 42 cm. The photo was taken on May 28th.

Nyohozan repotted on March 25th. Height = 54 cm. Circumference = 40 cm. The photo was taken on June 2nd.

And it is very important for us to consider how many flower buds we should remove to see the flowers after repotting. It is because they may stop growing if they have a lot of flowers after repotting. Therefore judging from the conditions of the roots of these trees after washing them, I decided to remove two thirds of flower buds of Koka, four fifths of those of Korin and Kusudama, and nine tenths of those of Nyohozan.

C. Choosing bonsai pots

It is very difficult to choose the best bonsai pot which is very suitable for the tree which we would like to repot. I have a considerable number of bonsai pots which have different sizes, colours and figures. But I haven't bought a lot of large good bonsai pots yet because they are very expensive. Besides I can't find any bonsai shops to buy them in our district. Therefore I cannot bring the tree which I would like to repot to a bonsai shop and buy the best pot which is very suitable for it, so that I have to buy some large good bonsai pots to test which pot is most suitable for it.

I planted the big Koka in a very large bonsai pot made in Cantonese. Though it was expensive, it has two scars of burned colours. And they are very characteristic of Canton pots.　As the tree is very big and tall, it looks a little bit cramped in it. But I don't have any larger good bonsai pots than this size (50 cm) because they are too heavy for me to carry them to the garage when I repot them.

Koka repotted on March 24th. Height = 60 cm. Circumference = 44 cm. The photo taken on June 2nd.

My big Korin, Nyohozan and Hakurei are planted in the suitable bonsai pots. Though Kusudama of double trunks is planted in the pleasing bonsai pot, I think a problem is in its colour: the contrast of colours between the pot and the flowers is weak.

Kusudama repotted on March 24th. Height = 43 cm. Circumference = 43 cm. The photo was taken on June 2nd.

I think this Ai-no-tsuki is planted in the suitable bonsai pot because it has a lot of white flowers and I always cannot see more than ten deep purple flowers. But I pruned it drastically because it didn't have the very good roots when I washed them.

Ai-no-tsuki repotted on March 30th. Height = 63 cm. Circumference = 25 cm.

When I repotted Sangosai after pruning drastically and washing the roots, I changed the shallow good bonsai pot for a deeper one because I judged that it was weakening a little bit because of sometime lack of water in summer. But it looks a little bit heavy. And I think its colour isn't very good because Sangosai has only the flowers of red. I don't have any other good bonsai pots of such large size (50 cm) whose colour is very suitable for it.

Sangosai repotted on March 30th. Width = 68 cm. Height = 42 cm.

Section 3. Ordinary repotting in March

When I repot big trees in the bonsai pots once per three years in March, I prune them drastically, remove the soil with a Japanese chop stick and a single rake, and wash the soil completely off the roots. And I plant them in the same pots or change them for more suitable bonsai pots.

I planted the tall Kobai-no-kagayaki in the same large terracotta pot after washing the roots because it still doesn't have a good style. I always repot big trees in large terracotta pots once per five years to grow them strongly because they have more Kanuma soil in them than in other large bonsai pots.

Shintaiyo is one of the tallest trees that I have grown from the cutting. And it is planted in the largest pot (65 cm) which isn't a good bonsai pot. As the pot is too heavy for me to carry it to the garage, I have to pull it out of the pot on the shelf and carry it to the garage to remove the soil. It is very bothersome to repot a tree on the shelf because I have to wash Kanuma soil before repotting it. At first I trimmed the tree to enjoy the flowers, but it didn't have very good roots when I washed them. After repotting it on the shelf, I had to prune it drastically.

Shintaiyo repotted on March 31st. Height = 88 cm. Circumference = 24 cm.

Section 4. Special cares

A. Grafting

We have a good chance to make some branches and tops of trees by grafting when we repot them. It is much easier to do so when we prune them drastically than when they have a lot of new shoots and leaves. Besides we will be able to get the good result if we do so by the time that they suck up a lot of water. When big trees are planted in very large terracotta pots or wooden pots, they can grow strongly and have some very long shoots. It is very convenient to use them as grafts. If they don't have any long shoots, we have to buy tall saplings as grafts.

Though I already had made a right branch of the Kobai-no-kagayaki by grafting 5 years ago, I decided to make three branches after repotting it. When I pruned it, I wired five long shoots lest I should break them when I wash the roots. As two of them meant securities, I removed the two after I had succeeded in grafting two shoots on the trunk, and one on the left branch.

The grafting of Kobai-no-kagayaki repotted on March 29th. Height = 64 cm. Circumference = 31 cm. The photo was taken on April 11th.

B. Restyling

It is much easier to restyle satsuki trees when we prune them drastically in March than any other chances because we can distinguish their figures clearly. Besides they haven't sucked up a lot of water yet.

Two Asahi-no-izumi were planted in the same cheap bonsai pots. Though they are tall and have very beautiful flowers, they have no good as bonsai because I haven't taken good care of them for a long time. It is very characteristic of the variety to have some big knobs or bunches on the trunks and branches. And I can judge that they are weakening because they didn't have any long new shoots recently. But as the branches which form their tops are very thick and clumsy, I had to remove a lot of them. And I removed the right first branch of the tree which was thin and very weak because I judged that it would grow strongly and made a large space under the main branch.

The top of Asahi-no-izumi repotted on April 1st. The photo was April 28th.

C. Carving out the rotten parts in the trunks and thick branches

We have a good chance to carve out the rotten parts in the trunks and thick branches of satsuki trees when we repot them because we can use some kinds of chisels more easily and freely than when they are in the pots.

I was unhappy to find the a small rotten part under the paste on the upper trunk of the big Hakurei when I washed the trunk. And I was very unhappy to recognise that it was a large one when I began to carve it out. Therefore I had to use some electric chisels. It took me a long time to do so because it was narrow and deep inside the trunk. Though I kneaded a kind of underwater bond and crammed it into the hollow part, I am afraid that the scar won't be cured even in 10 years.

Hakurei repotted on March 27th. Height = 58 cm. Circumference = 44 cm.



If you would like to understand what Mack is a little more, please click here.

If you have any suggestions or impressions about my home page, please send your e-mail about them to my e-mail address. Then I will surely answer them.