On 2014-10-04 09:24:34 +0000, stuart noble said:

On 04/10/2014 10:01, sacha wrote:
On 2014-10-03 15:54:00 +0000, stuart noble said:


A lot of shrubs are doomed from the start if the root system isn't
right. I always soak them overnight and tease the roots but, if the
root ball is too dense, they will always be rather feeble specimens. I
have learnt not to trust garden centres in this respect. You're better
off buying from a market stall where the turnover is high.

Most nurseries and garden centres have a very rapid turnover! There are
certainly some good market stalls and bargains can be found but it is
then a case of caveat emptor all too often.

I'm sure the family run centres are as good as they ever were :-)

Too many round here appear to be part of large groups. Shrubs that
don't sell hang around till the following year and the price increased
because they're that bit bigger.

Our experience with a gc near us is that they chuck things out,
especially once they stop flowering. Only the very largest and most
expensive things are kept over. They never, ever re-pot or pot on,
which is a tragic waste of money and is of course a hidden cost passed
on to the buyer! Nurseries, by contrast, do pot on and a higher price
reflects that in terms of time, pot, compost, general nurturing. I do
wonder if the OP, being rather new to gardening, checked the root system
of his shrubs, and dug a big enough hole to let the roots spread easily
into their new home. It is just possible that, if he waits for the
plant to go dormant and then digs it up very very carefully, he'll find
the roots still need a bit of teasing out. As you say, if they were
pot-bound they won't get off to a good start.

Teasing the roots isn't always easy IME. I've had shrubs where cutting
slits in the root ball was the only option.
My local GC has just emptied all unsold seed packets into a dustbin and
marked them down to 50p. Now that they're all jumbled up, they won't
sell any. I know because they do it every year!

Ray is opposed to teasing out roots in general, as he thinks people
often do more harm than good. But sometimes, if you get something
really compacted, it's necessary but only in the gentlest way and with
no forcing.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Tease them out gently under/with a gentle trickle/flow of water of the right
temperature, but don't soak them

Mike

..................................................
advert will follow





Ray is opposed to teasing out roots in general, as he thinks people
often do more harm than good. But sometimes, if you get something
really compacted, it's necessary but only in the gentlest way and with
no forcing.
--
Sacha

Teasing the roots isn't always easy IME. I've had shrubs where cutting
slits in the root ball was the only option.
My local GC has just emptied all unsold seed packets into a dustbin
and marked them down to 50p. Now that they're all jumbled up, they
won't sell any. I know because they do it every year!

Ray is opposed to teasing out roots in general, as he thinks people
often do more harm than good. But sometimes, if you get something really
compacted, it's necessary but only in the gentlest way and with no forcing.


I never tease out the roots, I use a sharp knife and slice down the
length of the root ball on 3 sides.
The new roots then grow away from the old clump.
David @ a rain free side of Swansea Bay

On 05/10/2014 12:40, David wrote:
Teasing the roots isn't always easy IME. I've had shrubs where cutting
slits in the root ball was the only option.
My local GC has just emptied all unsold seed packets into a dustbin
and marked them down to 50p. Now that they're all jumbled up, they
won't sell any. I know because they do it every year!

Ray is opposed to teasing out roots in general, as he thinks people
often do more harm than good. But sometimes, if you get something really
compacted, it's necessary but only in the gentlest way and with no
forcing.


I never tease out the roots, I use a sharp knife and slice down the
length of the root ball on 3 sides.
The new roots then grow away from the old clump.
David @ a rain free side of Swansea Bay

I've rarely had the courage to do that, but I did drill out the centre
of a camellia root ball which was absolutely rock solid. Much to my
surprise it gave it a new lease of life, but I'm still loath to do
anything much to a newly purchased plant

"Spider" wrote in message ...
I'm guessing that the first shrub is an acer. Acers are plants of light
woodland and do not appreciate being exposed to full sun (or wind) all year
round, especially whilst suffering drought.

First of all, thankyou everyone for the replies.

The name "Acer" does ring a bell, so you're probably right.

My back garden faces West and the right hand side of the garden (northerly)
is shady in the morning, but gets full sun for most of the afternoon.

As I'm going to have to dig it up anyway, what I think I'll do is move it to
the other side of the garden (southerly), which is shady for most of the day
(which is the same side as my rather bad looking rose, which I also posted
about the other day). But I'll wait till it goes dormant first (as winter is
round the corner, that shouldn't be too long).

The second shrub is probably a Spiraea, but it's not easy to see.
It can cope with more sunshine, but still needs to be kept well watered.
It looks as if it may be planted next to a drain cover (or perhaps a large
slab of slate) on the left hand side, and clearly next to wheelie bins on
the right. Both these will stop the shrub receiving natural rain fall.

The name Spirea doesn't ring a bell. But to answer your question, that's a
piece of slate just to the left.

I'll probably move this bush to the shadier side of the garden too while I'm
at it. I was looking for some other plants to put down the left, so that
will solve that problem then!

Whatever else you do, you need to give these shrubs a good, solid
drenching. Even if it rains, don't rely on that reaching the roots.
Certainly cut out all the dead wood to tidy the plants up *and* to stop
them dying back further, hopefully.

Well it chucked it down with rain yesterday and it looks like rain again
tomorrow, BUT if it doesn't, I'll get the hose out!

Thanks again to everyone for the replies. As I said in my earlier post about
my rose, I have a complete "brown thumb" when it comes to gardening and try
to do as little of it as possible. But I shall try and get my hands a little
bit more dirty out back in the future...


--
Best Wishes
Simon Taylor

On 2014-10-05 16:38:57 +0000, stuart noble said:

On 05/10/2014 12:40, David wrote:
Teasing the roots isn't always easy IME. I've had shrubs where cutting
slits in the root ball was the only option.
My local GC has just emptied all unsold seed packets into a dustbin
and marked them down to 50p. Now that they're all jumbled up, they
won't sell any. I know because they do it every year!

Ray is opposed to teasing out roots in general, as he thinks people
often do more harm than good. But sometimes, if you get something really
compacted, it's necessary but only in the gentlest way and with no
forcing.


I never tease out the roots, I use a sharp knife and slice down the
length of the root ball on 3 sides.
The new roots then grow away from the old clump.
David @ a rain free side of Swansea Bay

I've rarely had the courage to do that, but I did drill out the centre
of a camellia root ball which was absolutely rock solid. Much to my
surprise it gave it a new lease of life, but I'm still loath to do
anything much to a newly purchased plant

I've never had the courage to do that, either though sometimes we take
a small saw to really tough root balls on e.g. mature Cannas or
Hedychiums when splitting them. It never does them harm.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On Tue, 07 Oct 2014 10:07:44 +0100, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Tue, 7 Oct 2014 09:19:55 +0100, sacha wrote:

I've never had the courage to do that, either though sometimes we take a
small saw to really tough root balls on e.g. mature Cannas or Hedychiums
when splitting them. It never does them harm.

I divide my hedychiums (H. gardnerianum) with a hand axe! As you say,
never does them harm and they come again with lots of vigour.

Heh, I divided mine for the first time this past winter. I had waited
too long as they really put on a lot of root mass. Ensued much hacking
with a fully extended cutter blade... But maybe hedychiums are a special
case, like crynoids.

As for teasing roots, the thing you have to worry about is encircling
roots strangling the plant as it grows on in the ground. When this
happens you end up having to cut major roots in the ground, which can set
it back or even kill it. So for really pot bound plants I do like David
and make 4 cuts. If the pot is just "full" or a little more, I tease out
the roots to avoid encircling, and sometimes remove the very longs ones.



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy