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Moving pot grown Japanese Maple
RonNdeDejlA
Posts: 5
in Fruit & veg
Ok so I’m not a great gardener! - just to set the record - having just retired, my attention is turning to the garden!
i have a Japanese Maple Palmatum (purple leaf verity). It has been in a large glazed terracotta pot for about ten years. It’s about 5ft tall and seems quite healthy.
however, I have noticed that the plant is now rather pot bound and it needs transplanting. I’m thinking of just putting it straight in the ground, but our soil is very alkaline also, I’d really like to keep the pot it’s in, but the pot is rounded (like a goldfish bowl) which means the plant won’t just pull/slide out.
so I’m open to ideas as to: how I might get the plant out of the pot, without breaking the pot. Will the plant be ok in alkaline soil? what would be the right time to do this and are the roots of these plants evasive i.e should be cautious of where to position the plant?
Plus, any other advice or experience you may share
i have a Japanese Maple Palmatum (purple leaf verity). It has been in a large glazed terracotta pot for about ten years. It’s about 5ft tall and seems quite healthy.
however, I have noticed that the plant is now rather pot bound and it needs transplanting. I’m thinking of just putting it straight in the ground, but our soil is very alkaline also, I’d really like to keep the pot it’s in, but the pot is rounded (like a goldfish bowl) which means the plant won’t just pull/slide out.
so I’m open to ideas as to: how I might get the plant out of the pot, without breaking the pot. Will the plant be ok in alkaline soil? what would be the right time to do this and are the roots of these plants evasive i.e should be cautious of where to position the plant?
Plus, any other advice or experience you may share
0
Posts
If yours is pot bound I suggest you keep it in the pot till autumn but keep it watered and give it a top dressing of a suitable slow release fertiliser such as Blood, Fish and Bone (BFB) or pelleted chicken manure. Once the leaves have fallen it will be dormant and it's safe to mess with its roots as it will have all winter to recover.
Water it thoroughly to soften the root ball and compost and then use an old bread knife to saw all round the rim of the pot and as vertically and deep as you can till you can pull it out. Tidy up any torn or broken roots using sharp, clean secateurs and re-plant straight away at the same depth it was before.
As you can't realistically correct alkaline soil enough to suit it you're either going to have a deep, square hole dug, at least twice the depth and width of the pot and filled with good John Innes type ericaceous compost or else another, bigger, straight sided pot or one that's wider at the top than at the base. You could also consider making a raised bed for it if you can't find such a pot.
It should grow new roots over winter and feel no pain as a result of a timely move done with care.