My local nursery and (family friend) has obtained a thick 6 foot, 25 gallon Oshio-Beni from another nursery that went out of business. The original price is $700 but she said she would give it to me for $300 My question is what is too big for a pot? I’ve read that some get too big, but I’ve also heard you can grow any JM in a pot. Are there any disadvantages to this if the soil mixture and everything else check out? I have a very large custom made box on wheels that I wish to put this in. I do not want to have to dig this out of the ground for any reason, so I prefer keeping it the size it is with pruning and keeping it mobile, even if it is extremely heavy. Thank you
If done carefully and at the right time, pruning both the roots and the tree itself will keep it reasonably small: that's actually what is done for bonsai. As far as I know, repotting is best done just befor budbreak, and roots can be pruned rather drastically - that's what I do for my bonsai. A free-draining, slightly acidic mix is recommended. Pruning trees in the ground is a technique used mainly for conifers (niwaki).
Repotting a tree that size can get to be a bit of a problem. I use a keyhole saw and literally saw around the perimeter a few inches inside the pot, then dig out what I cut loose and replace it with fresh soil, never needing to lift the tree out of the pot. As @AlainK said, spring 'as buds swell' is generally the best time to do this. IMHO, the signs of repotting/root-pruning being needed are soil not draining tree appears to be declining or 'getting sickly' Letting the tree otherwise become pot-bound will slow its growth, which is something you want in this case. IOW, leave it be until you see one or both of the warning signs.
I have 3 that size in containers. No issues. Looks sweet. Good buy. Make sure to expose the root flare. My friend has 15-20ft trees in very large containers.
Thanks for the replies. I decided to put this one in the ground. There’s no doubt most of mine to better in the ground. Here’s an updated pic of the tree, along with a few others in the same vicinity.
Thanks I love it. The tag said It was a Oshio Beni but I’ll take that with a grain of salt and call it a red maple. There’s one next to it that I bought as a “blood good” it has darker leaves, but less sun so who knows.
We have bought Japanese maples in 45 gallon pots with no problems. I know two local growers that go up to 45 gallon pots. After they get up to 45 gallon they usually don't re-pot again due to cost. After 5 years they reduce the cost to sell rather than pay to re-pot again due to the time/man power, cost of pot, and the massive amount of soil needed. It's most likely the correct cultivar. Bloodgood in a 25 gallon pot would be much larger.
I just bought a 25 gallon Viridis for $300 out the door today... couldn’t resist, but just moving it down the ramp from the truck to where it sits and then putting it into the ground with all its weight was enough for me to realize, I wouldn’t want to have to re-pot every three years.
I bought a few JM maples myself. 1st was a bloodgood. I need to stop wasting money. I also need to stop browsing online cause I keep buying these tiny trees that take forever to grow.
