Of late I have been fascinated by roots. I wrote about it earlier in the year, and
today I would like to revisit it. That
blog of earlier this year had more to do about how our present is rooted in our past,
not bad for a biologist turned amateur psychologist I would think.
In the real world I hear they have remade the TV series called “Roots”
and I constantly hear about the genetic testing to see what your roots
are, but that is not where I want to go with this post.
Today I am really interested in the real roots, the
things that feed plants. Those are the
ones that have fascinated me for a long time, and the interest has grown even
stronger. What has happened that sparked
this interest? Well, for the past 30
years I have wanted to grow bonsai trees.
I have had trees in training since that time or should I say I have had
trees that I kept in benign neglect. I
have not managed them probably for the past 10 years, just kept them in their
pots and they have not done much.
Finally this year, I somehow figured it was time that I spend some time
with them.
Well the plants were root bound. It was surprising that the plants were still alive. Moreover, it was not surprising that they had hardly grown and still looked like seedling after the 30 years. After untangling the roots, I cut them some and repotted them in what I thought was a very loose soil mix and yes they are growing great (that is, compared to the past 10 years). They really seem to like what I did to them. Then I started to look on YouTube at various Bonsai channels and was amazed how others hacked at roots, combed them out, arranged them to make them look like a “natural” tree with spread out roots, you name it. I hurt and I cringed when I watched them hack at the roots. But the plants recovered and did great! (Here is one of the channels I watch). I was way too gentle. (And wow I just realize, going back to my first post on roots that I mentioned above, maybe cutting all or most of your personal roots may be OK in some cases; you can grow new ones and be fine).
Well the plants were root bound. It was surprising that the plants were still alive. Moreover, it was not surprising that they had hardly grown and still looked like seedling after the 30 years. After untangling the roots, I cut them some and repotted them in what I thought was a very loose soil mix and yes they are growing great (that is, compared to the past 10 years). They really seem to like what I did to them. Then I started to look on YouTube at various Bonsai channels and was amazed how others hacked at roots, combed them out, arranged them to make them look like a “natural” tree with spread out roots, you name it. I hurt and I cringed when I watched them hack at the roots. But the plants recovered and did great! (Here is one of the channels I watch). I was way too gentle. (And wow I just realize, going back to my first post on roots that I mentioned above, maybe cutting all or most of your personal roots may be OK in some cases; you can grow new ones and be fine).
An overview of my selection. A lot of these plants are close to 30 years old. I need a bigger table and bonsai pots, but we are getting somewhere. |
So it is understandable that combining my interest in roots, my interest in bonsai and my background in botany with a vacation that included hiking in the woods resulted in some photographs of some cool root structures. In bonsai we are always interested in roots over rock, or showing a nice radial root structure over the ground. When working with ficus trees, it is fun to get aerial roots. In other words, I have been walking in the woods being aware of roots. Here are a few pictures of some roots I have seen lately.
During our visit to Pittsburgh in July we went for a hike on the Trillium Trail and tripped over this root structure of this massive beech. Here again, soil erosion is very evident. |
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