Potted acer waterlogged!

I have an established acer in a large pot. I've just discovered it to be waterlogged and on closer inspection found the main root completely blocking the drainage hole. I obviously need to remove it from the pot to sort the problem properly but wonder if I should trim back any of the top growth when I remove it, to reduce stress on the plant as it has a lot of buds on it.
Any advice appreciated.

 

Are you going to smash the pot or try to tug the acer out?

 

If the roots still look healthy I wouldn't cut anything back, especially now as it might bleed.

 

I agree with @pete .
You may just have to smash the pot though.

 

I hopefully won't have to smash the pot as I've avoided the mistake of buying a pot which curves in at the top. I had to cut the root where is stuck out the bottom as it was deep into the gravel belows.

 

Gutted to discover that I can't get it out of the pot. It does slope in slightly at the top and the only way to get it out otherwise would be using a hori-hori trowel or some kind of saw to cut the roots all round the pot. I'm more concerned about killing the acer than losing the pot.

 

Is the pot ceramic or plastic, either way, I'd destroy the pot and not the roots.

 

That was my thinking too. Initially I thought the rootball may not go all the way to the edge of the pot, but once it became apparent that it did out came the lump hammer to destroy a lovely ceramic pot.

 

Too late now but I would have cut the root ball just inside the pot rim, then pruned the roots some more before putting it back in the same pot. Here's a video of a chap root-pruning a potted acer Root Pruning

 

@JennyJB but the guy in the video can see the root ball and decide what to cut. I would have been cutting blind and ran the risk of chopping through major root structures. Sacrificing the pot was the least worst choice.

 

We've had our Acers in the same plastic containers for years. Try to root prune every other year in February, try just before the buds show, but am normally a pinch late (I hate the cold damp weather!). The pots are utterly saturated with water, and I just pull the plant out, sit it on some wood over a wheelbarrow and let it drain a bit so it ain't so heavy to move.

We're only using shingle/gravel in the bottom and then Ericaceous compost, maybe mixed 60/40 with MPC and a bit of grit.

I'll just take an old knife, stab at the outside of the root ball to free up the edges, take a strong pair of kitchen scissors and cut a few inches of roots off. Try and break things up a bit more, and then repot it with some fresh compost around the sides.

^ Yeah, a lot like what the guy in the video is doing! Except his wasn't saturated like ours normally are :p

In the alternate years I'll trim the canopy around February.


To the OP, you may have gotten away, depending on how narrow the container got at the top, of just using an old bread knife to go around. Yeah, blind cutting to some degree, but probably not really hitting anything too important. You've made the choice to smash the pot. Note to self, never use containers with narrow necks! (or use a plastic container that is small enough to fit inside, with a normal tapered shape). Shame to loose a nice pot though, pick the lesser of two bad options I guess :s

 

I've got fingers crossed that the Acer is going to survive. It is showing some signs of life but well behind the others.