Looks ok but for a few large pieces, and some sapwood. I screened my gritty mix bark to between 1/8 and 1/4. Half inch screen might have been a little large. What was your small screen size, or did you just use everything that went through the 1/2" screen?

I used everything that went though the screen. Should I be on the look out for signs of wilting? I'm assuming the smaller particles will cause more water retention. Everything seems ok. But it's only been 2 days.

Well, that's not the gritty mix, but it may work for maples.

Lots of sapwood, and your bark wasn't screened properly. Did you read the recipe? Bark should be screened 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3/8 inch is the maximum for Pine bark particularly, due to the flat shape sometimes seen).

Maples are best re-potted before they have leafed out. When maples are potted into Gritty Mix, they need to be bare-rooted so that you don't have two dissimilar mixes in the same container - which can lead to uneven watering, drainage, and drying.

That said, if you bare-root a tree that is in leaf, it is much more likely to lose leaves and suffer. The recovery tends to be slower, as well.

Josh

Thank you for all the info.

So what should i do in the mean time? Should I put maples back in original nursery pots I got them in until a dormant period then bare root and put in correct gritty mix, leave them where they are until dormancy then make a precise screened gritty mix. Not sure what I should do for now any help would be appreciated.

Too much repotting is no good so I would leave it as it is and repot properly the next year.

Thank you for the info...yea I think I will just monitor them closely for any signs of distress. And leave them as they are until next year. I did not bare root so ill have to check rootball for when to water...correct?

I found a trick on this forum and this is one of the best, cheapest and most reliable way of checking humidity. Just insert a wooden skewer in your soil pointing towards the rootball. Remove it daily and check if it's still damp and cool when you put it to your cheek.

Thank you for all the info. Hopefully everything goes well for this summer until I can repot. At least this will give me time to get my gritty mix in order and ready for next year.

Thanks

Yes, Fabricec is correct! Leave them for now, watch 'em closely, use the dowel to determine moisture, and assemble your mix for next Spring. If you re-pot the week before the buds begin to swell, the maples will never even notice.

Josh