Potting my Acer
Jimtheslim
Posts: 17
Hello again you lovely people. I thank you for having read and some of you replying to my previous posts regarding Acers. I have just purchased a Crimson Queen from my local nursery. It is already fairy well established being in a pot 27cm in diameter and is over a foot tall to where the crown starts to weep over.
My questions are:. Do I put it in my nice decorative 32 cm glazed pot or a larger 46 cm diameter terra cotter pot? Also it seems to have been very happy and well looked after in it's container having what look like slow release fertiliser balls in among the free draining mulchy soil. Should I leave it in this potting mulch and just plant with John Innes around the side in the pot, or should I free the root ball completely and pot in John Innes?
Thanks in advance
Posts
Hi Jim. I would pot it into the nice ceramic pot. It is much better not to 'over pot' plants. Do not disturb the root ball at all just do as you said - fill in with the John Innes.
I'd leave it until Spring before re-potting if it were mine.
Me too and only repot into a slightly bigger pot. Re potting into pots that are too large can be bad for plants.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Yes I'm in no hurry to pot up and was going to wait. I had read that you should not put in a pot more than twice the size of the current pot, both of mine would be under twice the size. When potting up would you leave all the current soil/mulch attached to the root ball or take it all off?
If the roots are tight, just tease them loose a bit. Don't remove all the soil.
Standard rule of repotting is, one size up.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Thanks, I will start with the smaller pot then. Maybe stand it up somewhere safe to make it look more ornamental. I guess I am impatient and want that nice thick trunk and miniature tree look! I was also wondering how shallow you can pot an acer? I understand the root systems are not terribly deep and prefer to spread laterally?
Jim, don't be tempted to over pot. Your plant will just sit trying to fill it up with roots.
Patience is called for. You'll not make a bigger plant, just by potting it into a big pot.
Keep the top of the compost at the same level as it was in the previous pot, neither higher, nor lower.
Thanks, I guess the 32cm pot is pretty much perfect, being just a few centimeters wider. As the nights are getting frosty should I move it into my lean-to greenhouse? This is on the Northern facing gable end of the house and gets no sun. I could leave it with the doors open for air circulation. Or is frost protection only necessary in Spring when it starts waking up?