Bare-rooting started being recommended some years ago. Of course this may result in wilting, which often makes people loathe to do this. An adequate compromise could be to thump or shake off the outer layer of potting medium - which then permits the desired direct contact of the newest, active roots with the existing soil (when the now traditional but nevertheless mistaken practice of amending the planting hole back-fill has not occurred) while not exposing and disturbing the entire root system.

An important aspect is to get circling etc. roots discovered and re-oriented at planting, whenever possible. Because woody plants will otherwise retain these in their existing positions, may then topple or even pinch themselves off perhaps many years later, when much larger than they were at planting time. I myself have had foundation shrubs laid flat by snow loads 25 years after planting, due to their roots being knotted from remaining too long in small containers at a production facility.

Heh. Talk about snow loads. For the past couple of years, I've been putting up a mini *shrub shed*. 4 Stakes, Slanted Plywood ontop.......just to mitigate similar issues.

What prompted this, was a 10G Hydra that I did not get into the ground. Repotted in a 30G, and plan to just over winter it and deal with transplanting next year.

Granted, when you pull it out of the pot, it feels like the usual bark mix. What's interesting now that I'm just looking at the upper top of it, it's got no texture to it. Is it possible for Peat Moss to ~percolate~ uptop over time.....Anyhow, it reminded me of the surprise I saw this spring, when I figuered after 2 years, the Pee Gee plug surely would have changed, and clearly it's still all bark.

Bare-rooting may be recommended, but how do you go about doing this if the roots are so dense in the potting medium that the medium can't really be shaken off or the roots teased out? I've encountered a number of plants like this recently, with very dense mats of fine roots - that weren't even root-bound in their pots.

And a quick anecdote about the importance of proper planting of container-grown stock: I had a customer ask me to remove an azalea earlier this year, that had been planted a year or two earlier but had never really thrived. It was barely hanging on at this point. It lifted right out of the ground with no effort - the roots had stayed in the original plug of container mix, circling and circling, and had never spread out into the surrounding (clay) soil. Root-bound in the ground. Yikes.

Excellent post for the Wiki ! Indeed that was my observation. Literally, when I put the shovel in to put a annual plug around the trunk, the bark was fully composed and dry. Dry as in, cutting into the soil with the shovel, out came lightish woodish wood and not decomposing brown wood. I sort had one of those moments scratching my head.....as I was expecting the bark to have somewhat broken down, etc.

Pop quiz.....just for trivial ? sake. You got two 7G plants that look the same at the nursery, One is container grown and one is B&B. Which one do you choose

Actually it didn't keep circling after planting, it just never did well enough to root out from the original, deformed ball - production of new roots since planting was not great enough to show up well.

Kinds with chunky root masses such as heath family plants can be slit with a blade in place of pulling them open.

After bare-rooted stock balled in burlap plants have the lowest percentage of intact small roots. So the potted alternative would be preferable, unless there is some other factor you haven't mentioned that would affect the decision.

illsstep. I've pulled some plugs out that were so dense with roots (to the point you needed to cut the plastic pot open) to get it out, that oftentimes, knocking it with a shovel does no good as the roots are like a mesh holding the potting medium in...I just get invasive, and slice a bit deeper along the sides, and just throw a bit more super phosphate for good luck when I transplant.

Don't use anymore of that product unless your soil has been tested, found to be highly deficient in P.

The Myth of Phosphate Fertilizer

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/phosphate.pdf

Thx Embothrium. I've ~always~ thrown a pinch of bio-tone and super phosphate whenever I've transplanted.

A thought came to me and I'll give it a shot next year when I transplant the large Hydra that is right now sitting in a 30G. Going to see if a compressor hose with air nozzle will have any effect on loosening the bark mix that the interwebs of the roots are holding way to.

Actually, "root washing" is a recommended way of bare rooting container stock, or at least removing enough of the container soil so as not to create interface problems. But I would caution against blasting off media with anything high pressure as you will wind up blasting off any feeder roots as well.

ETA: Using a "starter" fertilizer or adding any ferts when planting is typically unnecessary, as nursery plants tend to be routinely fertilized in situ and usually need nothing more than just decent soil and water to begin establishment and root development. And in addition to being generally unnecessary in most soils (as well as a major pollution contributor), adding phosphorus at planting time does not really provide any measurable benefit - The Myth of Phosphate Fertilizers.

in my sand ... a pot-like ball of peat based media ... can eventually kill the plant ..

when the heat of summer .. july and august in my MI ... as the sand starts drying at depth ... the sand can actually start wicking water out of the peat ... to the point where the whole mass of it .. turns into a desert ... and once peat gets that dry ... often.. you can not rewet it ....

ergo ... i bare root as good as i can ... but with poor stock ... i just do the best i can ... getting at least a couple inches of the edge roots bare.. so they immediately go into native soil ...

i also learned.. over the years .. to pull plants out of pots and look at the roots ... after all.. in theory.. you are buying a root mass for the future ... not really the plant you immediately see above ... of course.. you cant do that with huge pots .. but then.. there is the argument.. that you are better off buying smaller stock to start with.. because they can deal with all the associated stresses easier .. and can outgrow the instant gratification sized plant.. inside a few years ...

ken

Plants in poor condition at planting may often fail to establish. Also they may be diseased or pest infested. Which means putting that bargain plant on your site may be introducing a problem to it.

As the roots go so goes the plant. You can cut a shrub off at the crown and plant the roots, have it grow back. But you can't do the reverse.

If after, making a good couple of sipes on the roots and then whacking the backside of the shovel against the exterior to remove any loose matter that may come out of it, I've often considered dumping it into a wide container and seeing if a soak/hose rinse would loosen it up some more. Never have tried it though, as generally most of the stuff I'm transplanting are 5Gs and generally it's bark based that does come quite a bit by just giving it a couple of love smacks.

On semi larger shrubs, it's just too darn cumbersome manhandeling it, but I after this thread, I'm planning to give it some more effort with the larger 10G plug.

I used a carpet knife to sipe the rootballs if needed. The carpet knife works good for cutting entwined roots in a rototiller also.

I always sipe the plugs as they always are rootbound *generally*. When it's' really bad, I've siped deeper.

When doing not shrubs, but trees, I will try to get at the potted medium a bit more to see if there are any larger circling roots that is within the pot core. Hmmmm. This leads to a different discussion. How indepth do you analyze just to make sure you don't have any circling roots post siping...

Going to try the root wash method next year with the shallow tub trub...

Okay, I had to look "sipe" up as I have never heard that terminology. But the only explanation I could find referred to grooves made in tires to improve traction. Or drinking to excess :-)) I assume neither of those are what you guys are referring to..........so feel free to fill me (and any confused others) in!!

I dunno about Mike, but I for sure may not be using all the proper gardening terminologies/wording ;-) We all mean the same thing at the end of the day ;-0

It's also used in some treated lumber. Short tiny slices in the wood which allow better penetration of the preservative. Looks like siped tires. I don't know if it's proper garden terminology, but I knew right away what you were talking about when I read it.

GG -

sipe = slice root ball.

Re: the air compressor/blowout to remove the bark/peat/etc from the woven knitted root . I got this idea when I found out how they transplanted large trees...

I was working on this project where the HO bought this huge giganonorous tree (were talking like the tree looked like it was 100+ years old), etc. I think the HO paid somewhere in the 75K-100K for it....

Anyhow, I was so amazed that such a large beast (both in size and monetary) was possible so I googled it and it showed techniques where they used air to loosen the root ball, etc.

I guess on the sizes of shrubs/roots we are discussing (for the everyday common man with smaller pockets), compressed air might not be applicable.

I have been root washing all the trees and shrubs I planted this fall. I had assumed someone had tried this before, but I wasn't at all aware that it was a commonly used method until gardengal48 put a name to it with her post above. I was thinking of calling my invention "tree baptism". I prune and detangle the roots and remove the potting mix in a tub of water, with a spray hose handy. Then I turn the plant over and mash a bunch of dirt into the roots before sticking it in the hole. I think the detangling part is really advantageous. When I was done with a little spreading juniper in a quart pot, its roots were a foot long. Clawing apart the roots by hand can be tough work, though. I feel less worried now knowing my methods are not as experimental as I thought they were.

If peat moss is the bane of all existence - well, if it’s the core of the shrub/tree u plant to some degree......just talking out loud , but a larger potted plant/shrub /tree may not be the ideal unless one literally gets close to removing at least 1/3+ of the root ball ? Would that be a fair statement ?

Just referencing back to to how when I dug into the original root ball area 2 years later - and noticed how the bark was dry when I removed my shovel . - aka, out came out chips/dust vs wet decomposed/semi broken down bark.

Or in the grand scheme of things , it does not matter that (much) presuming the roots will eventually spread out into native soil.