Hm. I'd only meddle with those wonderful roots if you are after something specific, Phil. Otherwise, I wouldn't touch it if it were my plant, especially since it is almost autumn--it will take longer for it to bounce back from all that bother.

But! Having said this---yep, you guessed it--I have done that in winter. I cleaned out all the smaller ones so I could entwine the bigger ones together. Do this with a clean cutter and carefully slice off the roots you do not like. Allow it to dry out at least overnight (in the shade) then pot it up. I did this in December so I also put the repotted seedling on a heat mat. That was two years ago, I have not repotted it since so I have no clue what's going on in there. But that's my fattest tworling.

Pagan

Roots look healthy to me. I wouldn't tinker this late in the season but I err on the side of caution too much.

Tracy

I would not prune them. With most obesum stock, their root systems generally are made up of a few Haddock roots and feeder roots unlike Arabicums.

If I did any manipulation, it would be in spring when new growth commences, then if you wanted to hang the tree for a bit. The roots would soften enough for you to place in a particular form you where wanting.

Major root cutting, definitely not until spring when you know that the tree will push out new roots.

My thoughts on it.

Rick

Ok cool I will leave the roots then :)

So to the opposite end now regarding pruning, the top. When you guys do a mega prune, say like tracy did in the boron experiment thread so there are just stumps left and no leaves, does the plant think it's dormant so needs to be in pretty dry soil? I assume water with no leaves would rot it?

Phil, I would treat this tree as a bare rooted tree. Pot it back up using soil mix that has some moisture (just not tinder dry) and leave in low light area, then water through after 3-4 days. Could use a liquid rooting transplanter w water. It would not necessarily think it was dormant unless temperatures are cool and daytime light levels very low.

Watering it and having the temperatures cold would be an issue.

Best time to do a severe pruning or any really is when the tree starts into active growth in the spring. Will recover much faster. Many have done it while dormant, but I prefer not to.

Rick

If you want to make more better and compact root, you need to cut totally the root ( amputated )

1

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4 hot glue + thin Styrofoam

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7 cocochunk or stone or Styrofoam

8 use bowl or you can make from Styrofoam

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10 put fertilizer around the bowl

Wowzers I have never seen anything like that before, thanks a lot for the info and pictures

Lukman, wonderful series of photos cataloging the entire process of training arabicum roots.

Thats root program for all variety @ladylotus

Good grief, that's drastic! Never seen it where they glue the base to a sheet of styrofoam before, they have just been sat on top of a disc or on a dome. I wish I had more plants then I may, just may be able to pluck up the courage to do that. How long from the re-potting to the final pic was it please? I have read that to make the roots more pliable you un-pot them and let them just sit in the air for a few weeks, then they can be repotted with the roots spread out. The way shown above is obviously more risky, but what an end result! Thanks for showing us what can be done....given courage and the right climate, sadly I lack both, lol!

Gill UK

Cutting a nice plant like that really need courage... unless you have a lot of spare/excess plants for experiment.

Jeb

I agree Jeb, this does take courage. Very nice pictorial, thanks for sharing Lukman. This reminds me a bit of the experiment Pagan did only the top of the tree didn't get chopped.

Tracy

Thinking of giving the above a go sometime in the near future but can you use any kind of glue or is it specific stuff so not to kill the plant as I don't have a glue gun and hoping I don't need to buy one?

Phil, I too would love to have a go at this....especially with one of my three Arabicums, but I would positively just hate myself if it didn't work and I lost the plant as a result. I would never forgive myself! The effect of those spread out roots looks so good. I hope Lukman gets back to you with regard to the type of glue you could use. I am wondering why the base is actually glued to the styrofoam disc, what is the reason do you think? Have seen others do it without the glue. Maybe you could use bathroom caulk or wood glue, as I've read on here about both being used to seal cut branches......but don't use either till someone who knows what they're on about gets back to you!!!!! Maybe Jericson would know? Jericson, are you there?

Gill UK

Hi Gill - I assume the Styrofoam stops the plant growing roots out of the base of the plant and forces it to grow them round the edge of the plant so that in time it can be grown in a way to get those crazy fat roots growing exposed in years to come like you see of a lot of Thai competition plants? That's my take on it but I am probably wrong lol

Yes Phil, I do agree with what you say and I fully understand the reason for the disc........but was just curious as to the need to actually glue it on rather than merely sit it on the disc. It's probably To give even more of a barrier to the cut off base and really force it to only make roots at the edge. If it was just stood on a disc I suppose roots may try to form anywhere on the surface and eventually push the disc out of the way??

Gill UK

Yep agree there Gill but also think that without glueing it then when you water the tree it will dislodge it very slightly and over several weeks I think even the smallest of spaces or air pockets created as the plant moves will force the tree to start growing a root at that point defeating the object in the first place and might even make the overall appearance of the tree unappealing in time as it grows?

Once I have got the info on which glue to get and grown a couple in I will be having a go at this as I already have some Styrofoam ready from last nights pizza ;-)

Glue for change fungicide, I glue this for anticipation root decay, if using fungicide we cant water them for 7 days or maybe more, we should make sure that part we cut of dry. If we glueing the part that we cut off, we can water them earlier, watering earlier can boost new root come out,

Really sorry my english so bad