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I have been eyeballing a small red Oak tree at my local nursery in Michoacán, México since early last year. The tree is from 2006 and I recently pulled the trigger and spent the ~75 dollars (1900 pesos) on this tree because i think it has potential.

Picture from June 2020 vs. Picture from Jan 2021 after I bought and cut two branches off.


I went to put this tree in a new pot and was disappointed to find a gigantic rootball that is too big to get into an ideal bonsai pot. It seems like the nursery owner never cut the tap root.


For this, I cut most of the old big tap root off. and only left the part of this root that had a lot of fibrous roots to it.



Here is what the finished product looked like. I put it in a mix of compost soil, vermiculite, and red pumice or lava rock (Tezontle in spanish). I also put it in the wood crate because i want it to develop more fibrous roots before i cut the big root a little more and fit it into a smaller pot.


Any advice on keeping this tree alive? Do you think it will live? How often should I water it? It is currently in shade and i only misted it after the major cuts. We are still in winter here, but winters are mild here and it usually doesn't get below freezing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I do not know the species. So.. very general advice: Be carefull with watering. Trees without leaves and with a large portion of their roots cut off generally do not take up a lot of water, and your pot may stay wet for a long time.

I hope you have experience growing bonsai. I would have opted for a more gentle approach if you do not know how the species responds.

Thanks, I will not water it much. Maybe once a week?

I may never know this oak species.. they said red oak but there are hundreds of oak species here in Mexico so who knows what species it is.

leatherback wrote: I do not know the species. So.. very general advice: Be carefull with watering. Trees without leaves and with a large portion of their roots cut off generally do not take up a lot of water, and your pot may stay wet for a long time.

I hope you have experience growing bonsai. I would have opted for a more gentle approach if you do not know how the species responds.

I agree, be careful with it or it might drown.

I killed this tree, it did not survive this root pruning

I wish I would have been more patient, I would have been happier with a less than idea tree than no tree.

Sorry to hear

Fortunately, most of my other trees are doing well. I am getting a pot custom made for my Jaboticaba, which responded incredibly to the root pruning and had an amazing growing season. I will update that tree once I get the pot.

I also planted some acorns in Nov 2019, and two of them are still growing. I have the total of 4 leaves per tree haha.

Sorry to hear friend... On the pictures I noticed that the roots got a bit dry, when doing any rootwork, always keep them wet, keep a bucket or a spray bottle with water nearby.

When this happens I always remember what Master Ladoso says: "Where's attachment, there's no reality"...

So don't be bummed, it's not a complete loss if you can learn something with it.