It would be a lot better if you could wait until just before bud-break in the Spring.

If you must re-pot now, have your mix ready to go. Re-pot in the shade, working quickly and
keeping the roots moist. Use a chop-stick to push the new mix into all the pockets around the
roots - do not leave any air pockets. Thoroughly water the newly potted trees, and then set
them in a shady, protected location to recover. Avoid wind, avoid sun. In two weeks, fertilize.

Again, I don't advise re-potting right now.

Josh

Learn about what differentiates good media from poor media, as well as how and when to perform full repots and your death rate will fall dramatically.

Click on me for a clear understanding of water/soil relationships

and

click on me for more information about repotting and root pruning procedures and timing.

Al

{{gwi:3257}}

Well, 6 hours and 25 plants later, I'm done for the day.

1) I know when the best time is. Life doesn't always go that way.
2) It's raining steady and hard here, so I did it on the porch with a drywall bucket used to get the dirt out of the roots. Nothing had a chance to dry.

I lose a few each year overwinter, (so spring is moot) and now I see why.

Almost every one of these trees not only had thick, wet mud for their medium, almost every one was either root bound or girdled or more. I did a pretty severe root prune on some, taking out the hard woody parts out of the center as suggested.

I found the 511 stuff at a local, stupidly expensive yet fabulous nursery and bought 3 bags. I'm going back tomorrow for more.

The thing is, this year in January during our usual 3 day warm spell, I dug out probably the same number of trees that had been in pots for 3-5 years. Root bound, girdled, the pot growing into the roots, etc. I didn't know about good dirt, though, So those trees are in the same medium as the ones I repotted today. Thank God I always mixed my dirt with some good potting soil. It's probably what saves these babies.

Although the January repots just fine, I note that more than a few have had no growth since the initial spring leaf-out. So... Better repot now with warm days and cool nights than risk them drowining in thick mud.

We've had weeks of weather over 90 this summer and there's no reason these should be in soaking mud.

They look great. I plan pictures (for my own edification) of this repot. I buy 2-year grafts, so some are now anywhere from 3 years to 9 years old. When I get that organized, I'll post!

Thanks,
Christine