"luckyballs" wrote in message
oups.com...
Perhaps someone could help, i adore the Japanese Acers/maples, i
believe they have to have
ericaceous compost , i have a 12 yr old one in the front garden which
is beautiful, gets better every year but
apart from the compost in the pot we bought it in when we planted it
in the garden we only put an extra handful in and its in clay soil so
surely the rain would have washed all the ericaceous compost away over
the years, should i top dress around the tree or as its doing so well
just leave it?


We had one for 5 years (Until a brain dead builder snapped it off! ). It was
planted in a gravel/sand base (Old pond backfill) in it's own supplied pot
compound.
It thrived very well.

We have planted another 5 in the same area and hope they'll do well also.
(Paid for by the builders)

The snapped off one resurrected itself amazingly and is now 6" tall since
February !

As for what to do with them all we do is water regularly.

Mind you , as a weed stopper for the area we used some left over laminate
floor underlay tiles, green compressed paper type from B&Q and everything is
sown in the soil underneath by cutting a small hole through the underlay and
planting as normal. Keeps the soil under very moist and stops weeds dead.
Covered with bark chips it looks fine.