Chamaecyparis Obtusa "Nana Gracilis" (Hinoki III) Pt I

This Hinoki the third in a series was acquired because of the straight trunk in May '05. It was potted out in a large bulb pan and received its original styling. Notice the area that is encircled. This area just below the basal flare runs for approximately 1 1/2 inches below the soil line. This problem will need to be addressed if I am ever going to get this tree in a suitable container.


This photo was taken in Sep '05. The tree has filled out nicely and we can see a formal upright in the making.


In March of '06 the foliage (fans) were flattened and thinned out, and the tree rewired. Because of the slender trunk, this tree will never be able to support a large foliage mass, well at least not for the time being.
It was also time to deal with the problematic trynk below the basal flare. A tourniquet was applied above the old root system, windows were cut along the circumference of the trunk (6 or 7 I believe), rooting hormone was applied and the tree was ground layered. The tree was potted in my normal mix to just over the previous roots, then the top to just below the basal flare was filled with straight screened turface ((1/32 - 1/16" particles)(Japanese sand). The tree progressed nicely during the growing season.



This photograph was taken in July '06, as it can be seen, the tree has never missed a beat. The second photo is of a possible future.



Over the summer it became apparent that the top need to come off. This reduced the overall height of the tree approximately 3 inches as can be seen in the 2nd photo. The overall reduction and rounding of the crown proved beneficial.
It was evident beginning in July that the ground layer was doing its job as several fine feeder roots were seen on the surface.


Because the ground layer was so successful, the tree was potted up in March of '07 in this training pot. The new layered roots equaled approximitly 1/3 of the original roots. Based on what was discovered I decided that it would be safe to reduce the original root mass by half. I did this for 2 reasons: one I didn't think the tree could survive solely on its new roots because of the foliage it had to support; and two I wanted the new roots to gain in strength and continue to proliferate, while the tree is still being supported in part by its former root mass.
The gamble IMO paid off as can be seen in the accompanying photo which was taken in July '07. This coming ('08) mid to late March (weather dependent) the roots will be revisited again and a decision will be made whether to place the tree on its new roots or a further reduction of the old root mass.