japenese maple

hi all
i have a japenese maple that has outgrown its position,when is it safe to move it.
its getting pretty well crushed and losing its lovely shape. thanks kathy3

 

never totally safe, Kathy3 - but the dormant season is safest. Thats winter to you and me! :D

wait until November, December, choose a time when the ground's not water-logged or frozen, dig a good big hole where it's to go, then dig up your acer, taking a great big rootball with it to minimise disturbance of the roots, firm in well, water in well, and cross fingers! That should do it!

 

thanks dendrobium
thought as much,will have to give it some more thought.kathy3

 

We're keeping our fingers crossed at the moment as we have just moved two mature acers out of the way of our soon to be built extention, so far so good! I'll let you know if they survive.

 

As long as you keep them well watered Celia, fingers crossed all will be well. If your soil is not clay, you may need a watering can every other day at this time of the year - and then you will need to keep it watered, not so often, til it establishes and that could be a year.

Let us know how they do eh.

 

They're looking a little dry on the leaves at the moment,and the purply leaved one is looking quite brown, can't be the lack of water as we have had rain coming down in stair rods over the last 2 days

 

They're not in a very windy place, are they, Celia? They don't do well there, I've found.

 

I'd be pretty surprised if they weren't after the summer we've had and the move.. Many of them don't seem to like a lot of sun either in my experience.

 

As far as wind goes the acer's protected on 3 sides so I don't think that is affecting it and we haven't had too much sun over the past2 days. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it comes through the winter

 

Chances are it's just the move then - so crossing your fingers is as good a plan as any! Good luck!

 

Prolly just the move Celia - give it a bit of time, and keep them watered if its not raining. When you first dig up and move a shrub or tree it is almost certain that it will check due to the root disturbance. It takes a little while for things to settle down again thats why watering is so important.

I presume that when you lifted them you took as much of the root ball as possible i.e. soil surrounding the roots. If you lifted them bare rooted, then the check could be severe.

Fingers crossed -

 

Hi Fran
When we dug the 1st tree up we could get a large root ball and this tree isn't doing too badly. The smaller tree was unfortunately infested with a rampant bamboo and so we had to take most of the soil away to remove the bamboo roots. I looked at it again yesterday nad although a lot of the leaves are drying there are still some healthy ones, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

Celia Just make sure you give them plenty of water,to make sure they reistablish themselves properly

Kandy

 

And that the soil is well firmed in to avoid air-pocket probs through the winter.... Sure you've done that though! :D

Rampant plants are a prob, aren't they! I've got a similar problem where I have to separate a buddleia and philadelphus who've got intertwined.... I'll leave it until winter though, and give it a shot!

Good luck!