On 25/11/2013 11:08, Emery Davis wrote:
On Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:13:11 +0000, David Hill wrote:

Why not dig a hole and plunge the pot so it's all below soil level for
the winter, then lift it March/April and plant it in its final position,
I slash the root ball with a sharp knife making several cuts top to
bottom, when planting, so that new roots form from the cuts.
David @ a still dry but muddy side of Swansea Bay.

Plenty of mud in Normandy too, it turns out the snow last week was 10 cm!!

This pot is not so root bound that I want to cut the roots, I save that
for the really bad ones. It should have been repotted this early summer,
I just missed it.

The reason to plant it in spring rather than now is because Acers hate
winter wet. So certain ones, or if I'm not sure of the graft union, get
planted in spring. If I put the pot in a hole, the hole would fill with
water and the plant would drown! Your plan would work if I had very free
draining soil probably, but it's pretty heavy here.

Well you could always just bank the soil up around the pot so the whole
thing is above ground.
Or just wrap well with bubble wrap, or a few inches thickness of shade
netting around the pot to keep excess frost out.
David @ a still dry and sunny side of Swansea bay