Dealing with Difficult Roots by Chris Johnston

In this article Chris deals with the topic of roots that are difficult to manage. Typically Yamadori has a less than desirable nebari and Chris shares some techniques to bring order to them. This article was part of a tie breaker in the Bonsai Vault Article Contest.

Thank you very much for the article Chris. I will always keep this in mind in case I encounter this problem in the future.

Tom

Does the timber not hold too much moisture? In other words, is root rot an issue when using wood supports ?

zen wrote:Does the timber not hold too much moisture? In other words, is root rot an issue when using wood supports ?

Zen, thanks for a great question. While a wooden box (especially kiln-dried, untreated lumber) will rot, and treated lumber will rot but not so quickly, only dead wood rots. It is not infectious into healthy roots. Root rot will be caused by root die-back for whatever reason, and once the decay starts, it must be excised carefully and fully.

Chris