I actually only use black plastic pots now. Great drainage and very easy to move around and repot from and to. Not much to look at but they work for me. The worst thing about them (aside from the looks) is they hold onto heat. I have to be mindful of this and try to position them to avoid overheating.
Looking at @ROEBUK pics, it looks as though he favours this method also. I move mine quite a lot and the ceramic ones get very heavy as they get bigger.
My oldest red dissectum, was moved to the ground from a terracotta pot last Autumn. It really was hernia time. Never again !!!
Ok, looks like I'm also gonna be setteling on a simple, V shaped container. Only choice available and cheap enough, just need to drill some holes and remember to wrap before winter. I'm most happy with the Mikawa. The tight leaving on this species is amazing! Altough from most angles, the trunk is not symmetrical. The Aureum leaves are stunning! Just need to find a way to fix that ugly graft. Looks like there is room left on my 10 m2 balcony... yay! Looks like nothing is stopping me from ordering a few more maples :p...
I don't think you need to saw both : 1/ If roots are escaping from the holes at the bottom of the pot, cut them. 2/ I don't think you got me right. Here's a rough sketch of what I meant, the red lines being twhere to saw. Of course, you'll need a saw that is long enough : Then, twisting the tree a bit around to free the roots that stick to the bottom of the pot, you can then just "unplug" it. Careful : make sure you hold the trunk below the graft ! Books or resources : if you mean "how to repot a maple", there are plenty of resources online, esp. from bonsai forums.
That'snot the only problem : I think I already mentioned that, but ceramic pots keep the heat of the day longer after sunset. The temperature of plastic pots gets lower faster, so maples can have some rest, some more freshness at night, especially if you water them in the late hours of the day.
Those pots are perfect. Great find. Don’t be shy with the drainage holes. I think you could drill 5 holes each about an inch in diameter. Add lots of pine or fir bark to your new potting medium and you should be good to go. One of the things people love about Mikawa Yatsubusa is the weird and wonderful shapes it throws out. Fixing the graft. I think you should get yourself a good quality sharp pruning saw and take it down to where it meets the main trunk. Be careful not to cut in to it of course. It will leave an odd bump but it will heal and in a few years the trunk will swallow it up.
The pot you showed in your first picture has a bottom diametre which is about 2/3rds of the top. If you can find grey or brown pots whose sides are almost vertical, almost "U-shaped" it's better. The gravity centre of a tree in a pot is much higher than the pot itself, especially since plastic is not as heavy as ceramic. In case of strong winds, the pot is more likely to fall and it might damage the tree. So finding a pot whose bottom is almost as wide as the top is (part of) the solution.
It makes me think of this : you can repot it in a "U-shaped" pot, and fill the space between the plastic pot and the round pot with pozzolane, or anything that can keep the moisture. If you don't see what I mean, I can make one of these, er... very artyistic, splendid illustrations like the one I posted above... ^_^
@AlainK thanks! I think I got it.. this is hard to descibe on a forum.. In my case, the single, one-inch pot hole is covered by a shard, followed by fleece, followed by clay pebbles, then another fleece, then the rootball and filler compost, see below. But I think I got the idea.. Basically, cut straight down from the container edges, V style, so we can pull out the tree trunk in a single, swift swoop. Maybe do some knuckle squashing, as suggested by @dicky5ash, so as to loose as little of the root sack as possible. Edit: Used aggie for diagramming: Aggie.io
Thanks for the ideas @AlainK .. having trouble sourcing anything better in the EU. Only finding standard tree containers, which are relatively unattractive (I'm limited to a 10 m2 balcony for now). Nevertheless I think I go the idea :+1: U-Shape, so that the tree has the opportunity to use as much vertical space as possible..
Indeed, hard to tell the differnce between a bad graft/prune and natural developemnt, at least on mine, in my beginners eyes. Looks interesting none the less. Sounds a bit scary.. and like a good, next project in my maple journey :)
Kudos on you balcony-man for having such nice trees. ;-) Maybe using woden planks to make a kind of hedge, each tree in an individual square (plastic lining or something similar) could be an idea, don't you think ?
@AlainK Thanks :) I want my tiny balcony to feel like a small maple jungle, were I'm completely encapsulated in their beauty when stepping out of the apartment. I'm lucky, in that I'm on the top floor, not having a roof over my balcony, which means I can install any shade cloth I want. My long game is, that one day I'll be owning some soil so I can transpant my friends into the ground, and create a beautiful japanese garden. @planks: definately - good idea :) was thinking about something like that.. though finding the time is the issue here. There is work to be done on the balcony for sure. Flooring .. click tiles ... pending projects. Thinking about getting a bamboo fence for providing view blockage as well as a nice background. Though those supposedly don't last that long, so still thinking. Well.. decisions..
I used to be able to buy pots like the grey one, in 90-120ltr straight sides but I can’t find them anywhere these days in the U.K. Only less attractive black plastic or V shaped
