Hi, I recently got a 10 gallon crimson queen that has been in that container and has not been repotted for 3 seasons (the grower verified this). I have all my maples in containers, and usually when I get a new tree I bareroot repot (wash all the old soil off) it before bud break. Doing this ensures that the soil mix is homogeneous, plus it gives me a chance to root prune any circling or girdling roots that may become a problem later. But so far all the trees I have repotted have been 3-5 gallon or smaller, but this tree is about 5-6 feet tall. I am not sure if I should bareroot repot this, or just loosen the outside 6-8 inches of the rootball, prune any circling roots and add the new soil (however, doing this, I may miss any girdling roots that are within the undisturbed root ball? Any suggestions appreciated. thanks, xman
Your second idea is best (esp. if the existing soil is fast draining, gritty, sandy, etc. which maples need. It's not practical to bare root a tree that size that's already shown it's well established, but leave the job til Nov. if you can, or at least late Oct., when it's gone dormant.
