Page 104 - Tài liệu cây cảnh Bonsai4me Bonsai Basics

Ground-clay can become so compacted that its removal is a difficult job.
Using a combination of chop sticks and my fingers (to try and avoid damaging
the fine feeding roots within the rootball), I started to remove the clay from
around the roots and the rootball of the Privet was revealed.
As I was able to inspect the rootball itself for the first time I was able to
establish that there were many heavy roots (that would have previously grown
deep into the ground) that were no longer any use to the tree and these could be
removed to reduce the depth of the pot needed for the bonsai and as well as its
weight.
Thick roots are only vessels through which moisture passes from the fine
feeder roots into the trunk itself and removal of a thick root that carries no fine
roots causes negligible harm to the health of the tree. My preference is to reduce
the length of thick roots immediately after collection so that when the resulting
wound has healed and issued feeder roots, additional stress is not necessary in
the future when trying to fit the tree into the relatively shallow confines of a
bonsai pot.