Too late to do much this year. Significant root work should be done before or just as buds move in the spring. For now, you can saw off the bottom 1/4 of the root mass, cut some vertical slits at 3-4" intervals into the root mass perimeter, pot up a size, and call it the best you can do until early spring '15.

If you thought the plant's life was hanging in the balance, there is another step that involves defoliating and getting after a full repot, which includes bare-rooting and root pruning, but that's more of an extreme measure.

More info on maintaining woody material in containers over the long term at the link below, including the value of repotting as opposed to potting up.

Good luck.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Click me and I'll take you to more info.

IME, lilacs - of any plant - are more likely to tolerate considerable root abuse. Instead of the bathtub, try soaking them in a big garbage bag. Once they are fully saturated then spray the soil off the roots as best you can. Or feel free to cut through any circling roots and slash any densely matted portions. Don't worry - these guys can take it. If you can dig up a lilac sucker at this time of year and replant to get a new shrub, you can certainly do a similar process with a rootbound container. Just keep the trees well watered after planting. They may experience some transplant shock but they will recover. Not much damages a lilac :-))

As a nurseryperson, the excuse your nursery makes for not dealing with refunds or returns (and warranties) just doesn't hold water. They are a very minimal impact on the bottom line (typically less than 3% of gross sales) and a huge positive impact in customer goodwill. And it doesn't take any more time to process a return than it does to process a sale. Even HD and Lowe's acknowledge these concepts. You need to hunt for a more customer-oriented garden center!!

very late last night.. as i was finishing the 3 musketeers ... i wondered about this .. dont ask why .. lol .. actually.. i dont know why ...

but IF you get all the media off ...

how are you going to get it back into the root mass.. when you try to plant it ...???

i think.. you went with a bit of instant gratification as to size ... and to grow it to the size that attracted you ... they had to grow it in a pot for a long time ...

and.. it is a suckering bush ... so you should realize.. its going to have a lot of wandering roots ...

just plant the thing and be done with it ... perhaps cut some of the circling roots... so they will regenerate straight ... keeping in mind ... you should barely be able to kill a lilac ... [except for maybe the bubble bath .. dont you think that was a bit over the top??? ... lol]

ken

ps: its a real catch 22 .. you have to buy it large enough to see the flower you want.... yet try to find something not root bound ...

Well, what's done is done. We did the best we could....

I was pretty upset yesterday. More than anything I felt a breach of trust from the nursery. I mean how can they do that to their loyal customer base? They should be ashamed. Seriously. We never did get even half the soil out of the plants. We let them soak for hours in the bathtub. I thought of adding a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid, but I didn't...

So I handed dh the carpet knife and I said here, do it, I can't watch. He said what do you want me to do with this, and I said make 1 inch deep cuts from top to bottom all around. Basically, he thinks we just killed the shrubs...

I was able to spread a small amount of roots out. The bottom roots were the easiest. The very tippy top roots were completely cemented and tangled. There was very little I could do...

I figure in a few days the shrubs will wither and die. :(

I still feel like calling the nursery and asking her how they could do this to their customers, but maybe rootbound pots are the industry "standard" these days....

The real adventure began though after dh got the plants out of the bathtub and brought them outside. Dh let out the plug and came downstairs and we never thought about the bathtub until later. It was plugged. And I mean PLUGGED! Dh had to snake out the drain. He pulled out roots and plant media that was stuck. He had to go into town to get Liquid Plumbr. After the tub was unclogged, he filled the tub with water, then took the unopened bottle of bleach tablets I had just bought that morning for laundry, and he dumped the whole bottle in!

I'm going to confess that I did add a tiny bit of Lime to the soil, and I did mix in a bag of garden soil I got from the nursery. It got lost in all our native soil, but it made me feel like we gave a tiny "boost" to the soil. In the end, I decided to add those amendments since I want to make the soil as generous to the Lilacs as I can, especially after what they just experienced yesterday...

This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Thu, May 29, 14 at 9:27

Well, it shouldn't really come as a surprise that domestic plumbing is not designed to cope with volumes of soil. Next time how about just dunking it in a large bucket? Or garbage bag as suggested above.

As Ken said, it is not uncommon for plants grown in pots for sale to become root bound. The nursery probably bought them in and had them a while and they were not in the business of repotting. It is not a disaster and you do not need to remove every morsel of soil from the rootball. Just tease it out a bit, plant and water in amply. This is a tough shrub not a precious tree which a circling root might damage in the long term.

Tips for future purchases - look under the pot to see if roots are coming out of the drainage holes. Then try to lift the shrub out of the pot and examine the roots. Look to see if there are roots visible right at the surface of the soil. And check for moss, algae and liverworts on the surface. All are signs that the plant has been in the pot a little too long.

p.s. Al, I don't think these lilacs are destined for life in containers.

"Well, it shouldn't really come as a surprise that domestic plumbing is not designed to cope with volumes of soil. Next time how about just dunking it in a large bucket? Or garbage bag as suggested above. "

Bucket, garbage bag, laundry tub, garbage can, kiddie pool, canning pot, storage bin, large mixing bowl or stock pot- lots of things to use instead of indoor plumbing :)
Times like this you have to get creative!

BTW ... to placate hubby ... i have a kiddy wading pool that i would use for such...

and i also have an old fashioned galvanized wash tub ...

both are extremely handy in the garden ...

it wouldnt bother me as it did your husband.. for his reasons...

i would have been more concerned about having to call a plumber for a severe plumbing problem ... that could really cut into my garden budget .. lol..

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: and its old fashioned kitsch for the garden... meaning you can leaving it laying around.. and peeps think its garden art... rotflmbo ...

The Lilacs are doing great! They're being watered well and they're getting 14 hours a day of full sun. I am guessing they're enjoying where they're at now a lot more than in those pots! lol

Looking back, dh and I could have definitely made better choices of where to soak those Lilacs. Dh actually brought them out of the tub in our huge 90 gallon contractor bags we use. We never once thought of using them to soak the shrubs in. I guess we were too wrapped up in being frustrated over how cemented the plants were into the pots that we didn't sit down and think more strategically about how to soak them.
But we do have some funny memories of that day...Dh thought it was so funny when I accidentally sprayed myself in the face with our new pocket hose that I still haven't gotten used to.... And then dh having to snake all the roots out. We can laugh about it now. lol

There is good literature and research out there about the "industry standard" of potbound shrubs and trees. Linda Chalker, who is (if I remember correctly) a university biology or horticulture professor was shopping for a woody; she could not find a single specimen that was not severely rootbound.
After losing an expensive and lovely Taylor's Sunburst conifer due to root girdling I vowed never to buy a woody plant without takiing it out of its pot and looking at the root system. If the nursery staff doesn't like it (if I get caught) I'm happy to explain exactly why.

Although you didn't ask for advice, I would encourage you to write or speak to the management about their return policy. That really is unconscienceable (sp..)

BTW, loved the lilac story. (Our) Ken once gave advice about hosta culture and suggested throwing them on the driveway to stimulate growth. I think lilacs are in the same category. And I could easily see myself as a younger gardener putting a plant in the bathtub!
Idabean/Marie

I never did say anything to them about their potbound shrubs. I just couldn't do it.

My question is, is it a good sign that the Lilacs have done well all summer? Or could they just be coasting on the built-in energy they already have, and so I won't know til next year?

I just don't see how these Lilacs are going to get past their cemented in roots, even though I cut them as best I could. I have this fear they are going to fizzle out in a year or two because they just couldn't get established...

hey

caveat emptor ...

whats to complain about.. if you didnt check ...

i ALWAYS pull or tip things out of pots.. to check roots ... and one great indication that its rootbound.. is you cant get it out of the pot ... [next time.. ask the manager to pull it out of the pot.. and if its not good.. tell him to put it back in.. and tell him the stock is underpar]

i have also learned to forgo instant gratification on some level.. and buy smaller plants ...

the only way to get plants larger.. is to grow them.. too long.. in the pots ... hence the proclivity to be root bound ...

all that said... its a lilac ... i doubt if you could kill them ... if they are thriving now.. i wouldnt spend too much time worrying about them surviving ...

i see these thing on old abandoned farmsteads... having been completely ignored and neglected for decades ... lilac ... plain old lilacs ... and not foo foo plants ... [except the yellow one.. which will commit suicide on the way home from the nursery .. lol ..]

great stuff to think about.. and it makes me happy that you are so interested ... but just dont worry about them ... they are lilac ...

ken