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House Plants Container Gardening

Guidance Needed to Trim Roots

4 years ago

I’ve had great success repotting some of my smaller houseplants into Al’s famous 5-1-1 mix. Now I’m ready to tackle some of my bigger plants.

Pictured is my Norfolk Island Pine with the roots cleared of the old mix. Please take a look at the closeups of the roots and tell me if they need to be trimmed and, if so, how much. Right now it’s sitting in a jug of water so the roots don’t dry out. Thank you!

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Comments (4)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
4 years ago
You could try and straighten as many of those roots as you can and get the plant out of the water. Looks like it was in quite a small pot.

tj
mickeee
Original Author
4 years ago
Tsu, thanks so much for responding.
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There does seem to be a teeny bit of moisture inside the middle one. There are 3 bottles. The right one in the first pic and the left in the second pic are the same bottle. The cutting isn't visible in the first bottle because it's only about 3" after I cut off the part that started turning black. I don't hold much hope for that one. Should I take the top portion off and put them in plastic bags instead? I've seen that method. Your method looks like what Connie at Hartwood Roses does. I didn't have milk type bottles, and thought these would do. My main concern is lack of condensation. Do you think these can be saved?
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James (zone5b)
4 years ago
I have a Norfolk pine that has a similar looking rootball. I've root-pruned it a couple of times but wasn't too aggressive in trying to untangle some parts of it.

Nigel Saunders has a few good videos on making bonsai of Norfolk pines on youtube where he prunes them back aggressively. Might be worth watching for some ideas on what they can handle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V43bYs9E-Vw

Next time I repot mine I will be more aggressive in untangling the roots.
mickeee
Original Author
4 years ago
James, thanks for sharing the video. It makes me want to try my hand at bonsai.

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