The reason nursery stock is often root-bound is because commercial growers
up-pot young trees without ever bothering with the roots. Many times I
have found elements of the original 2" paper pots in the soil of plants sold
in 10" or 12" pots.
The best (and dirtiest) way of dealing with root-bound material is to wash
out all the soil with a high pressure hose before combing out the roots.
That way it's easier to see what you're doing. It is also less traumatic
for the roots as opposed to raking them out with a root hook.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Isom, Jeff (EM, PTL)"
To:
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 5:44 PM
Subject: [IBC] Nursery stock and circling/intertwined roots


I'm looking for some suggestions/hints/tricks/lessons learned....
I have purchased a number of nursery plants this year and have found that
as
I get into the process of combing out the roots - they are an absolute
mess.
Unfortunately, I don't have ready access to wild trees (alps, rockies, or
even smokies) or even field grown; so am stuck with nursery stock.
Saturday
I spent over 2 hours trying to comb the roots out on a Mugho pine. This
was
a 3 gallon tree with a really nice trunk AND what appeared to be a fairly
good nebari. However, when I got it home and actually got working on it I
discovered that the roots circled and intertined so bad there was no way
to
completely get them straightend. I did the best that I could, but I know
it
will probably take some more serious work again (maybe twice more) in the
future just to get the roots into decent shape. Is there some trick to
this
that I'm simply not aware of? Is there some way to tell in advance - I
mean
I dig down with my fingers as far as I can while at the nursery, but it
isn't always that obvious. This is not a one-time thing either. Every
tree
I've purchased this year with any trunk size at all seems to have this
problem. I believe someone else mentioned a similar problem with a
Hillier
Elm not too long ago. I need some HELP!

Jeff Isom
Cleveland, OH / Sunset Zone 39


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