This is the time of year that we re pot many of our container grown specimens. This year we decided to take a couple of our very old trees and re pot them into a much smaller pot. I took our acer palmatum "Pixie" out of its half oak barrel container ( it has been in there for approx 20 years now). the tree itself is approx 30 years old since I grafted it. The oak barrel was barely holding itself together with plenty of rotten pieces so it took only a few minutes to remove all the wood. I then took my "root cutting saw" and cut the sides and then the base into a 1 foot cube ( 30" cm). Then place the tree in a 15 gallon nursery pot which is approx 1/3 the size of the former oak barrel. My back always thanks me when we scale back the pot size!
Good job! Oh, how I understand : I used to buy terracota pots, but now when I repot, I use plastic ones. Firstly, they're easier to move, secondly, when they get the sun terracota pots, especially when "varnished" keep the heat during the night, I don't think maples like that. I still have some very nice pots, but I keep them in the shade, like this 'Jerre Schwartz" :
