Techniques - Repotting a Juniper sargentii

Repotting a Juniper sargentii
Detail view of the root ball to the front of the tree, complete with the unsightly surface root projecting out of the soil. At this stage it is difficult to ascertain how much fibrous root is at the end of this projecting root.

Detail view of the root-ball to the rear of the tree. Again there are a number of heavy surface roots, though not projecting out of the soil as much as the one in the front.


Using a root hook the perimeter roots were teased open, some of the roots had grown to quite a length by following the perimeter sidewall of the pot. These roots will be trimmed back as indicated by the red dashed line.

Detail view of the base of the root-ball. The compost was a good open free-draining mix, the granules can be seen between the roots. The long fibrous roots will be trimmed back to the main root-ball pot shape.

In addition to using a root hook to open up the root-ball and remove areas of the old compost the root-ball was washed out using a hose with a jet attachment. This method is gentler than the root hook at removing the old compost without damaging the fine fibrous roots.

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