Ponderosa pine #2

This ponderosa pine was collected in Colorado in 1995. I got it into Germany in 1996 and immediately potted it into the wonderful round container by Derek Aspinall. Already at that time people said that the container was great, but I would never ever get the tree out again and eventually would have to destroy the pot. Now, 21 year later it was time to repot the pine as it was slowing down in growth considerably. Some may be astounded about 21 years. This is very normal for really old collected conifers. Some are not repotted in 30 years! Anyway, already 21 years ago I had used modern substrate. Taking out the tree of the container without destroying the pot took me ten minutes. Not really  problematic with modern substrate. If I had planted the tree into akadama or loamy soil originally I would have had a root ball hard as cement and the pot (being worth around 700) would have had to be destroyed. While at it I changed the position of the tree and now I am quite happy. The new pot is by Lubos Skoda.