The emergency repotting is an extraordinary operation that in some cases it is necessary to perform to save the life of a plant. Very often, in 90% of cases, bonsai purchased from large retailers will have their roots stifled in a very clayey and compact soil.
The latter is lethal for the plant which therefore should be immediately repotted, but it may happen that it is not the right season. We find ourselves therefore in the situation in which, if the plant is not repotted, it perishes and if it repot out of season the plant could die…
The solution to this dilemma is emergency (or false) repotting.
In this case the roots are not untangled or radical bread is reduced (cutting the roots), but repotting is carried out in order to aerate and improve the soil around the existing one, in other words the radical bread is not touched.
The maneuver is simple:
- take a bowl (low and wide terracotta or plastic pot) from a little larger cultivation than the pot in which the plant is located;
- Bonsai is prepared as for a complete repotting
- a draining layer with pumice or akadama is inserted at the bottom of the vase (these materials are good in most cases)
- the specific substrate is prepared for the essence you are going to repot;
- plant is removed from the old pot and anchored to the new one by means of anchoring wires;
- with the substrate prepared in step 4 the empty spaces are filled with the complete repotting technique;
- it is watered until the water coming out of the drain holes is not clean.
