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House Plants Container Gardening

Guidance Needed to Trim Roots

7 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 ♱
7 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
7 years ago
Tsu, thanks so much for responding.
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James (zone5b)
7 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
7 years ago
James, thanks for sharing the video. It makes me want to try my hand at bonsai.

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