Hello all,

I am very new to bonsai, and started my first seeds in March 2020. I now have two 10-month old trees (one ficus religiosa and one delonix regia/royal poinciana) which have grown quite large and have roots growing out the drainage holes of their pots. The ficus is about 9 inches tall and the trunk is just under 0.5 inch thick at the soil line. The delonix regia is 11.5 inches tall and just over 0.5 inch thick at the soil line.

I have heard that it is best to repot in the spring, but should I repot now since the roots are growing out of the drainage holes? Given their size, should I consider a bonsai pot or is it still too early for that?

I appreciate any advice you could give. Thank you!

Less than a year old seedling? You need to wait 5-20 years before putting it in bonsai pot, depending on the size and style you are aiming for.

Hi,

I'm actually having a very similar issue with my delonix regia, which is very young, but has roots growing out of the bottom of the pot. I was wondering the same question and was hoping someone would provide an actual answer as to whether we should wait for spring to take out of the pot, prune the roots, then re-pot.

Thanks,
Adam

Tropfrog wrote: Less than a year old seedling? You need to wait 5-20 years before putting it in bonsai pot, depending on the size and style you are aiming for.

This is not actually helpful and does not address the above question.

Repotting for most trees should be when it is coming out of dormancy, if that means chopping roots off. If you are taking it out of one pot, putting it into a bigger pot, and surrounding it with new dirt, that can probably be done anytime.

The reason for that is that you want to catch the tree at the time in its cycle when it is about to put out new growth, because then the tree is more inclined to grow new roots as well as new twigs, and because there isn't a large mass of leaves wanting water; their only source of water is roots, and if you chop a lot of roots off there is less water that can come up to the leaves.

The roots might come out of the drainage hole. THat does not mean that the tree cannot grow anymore.

For optimal growth, trees are transplanted from one pot to the next as soon as a soherent rootball has formed.
On the other hand, repotting for bonsai includes removing strong vertical roots to favour side-roots, work with big impact on the plant, and as such is best not done in mid-winter, when these tropicals are at their weakest, normally.

It is tricky. I personally would do it in spring. And not, not in a bonsaipot. But take the main root out, spread the rest of the roots in a horizontal plane, and plant the thing in a wide rather than deep fairly large pot.

Right now you could consider using a light wire to put some movement in the trunk. The trunk will never be as flexible as it is when young and thin. But.. Beware.. ALso easy to damage!

I'll second leatherback on that, I would wait, specially for the Flamboyant, and would definitely put on a big bowl/basin to grow vigorously, that's a species for big bonsais because of it's big leaves (not saying it's a rule).

You should take a look on how those trees' branches grow in nature, they grow like, meandering softly.
It does require some extra attention on wiring, it scars it's wood easily.
By the way, that tree use to grow a wood mass/abcess/cyst on the scars after you prune bigger branches/trunks on the process of healing it.
And they are kind of susceptible to fungus, so it'll need an extra attention on that in the future too.

Third opinion here.
Wait for the Spring.