Hi,

I'm glad I found this group. I have 3 crepe myrtle, 1 Japanese elm,
and 1 Saphire dragon that were in pots for years. Now that they are in
the ground, they don't want to grow anymore. They've been in the
ground for at least 3 or 4 years. I give them blood meal, acidifying
plant food, and aerate their roots every year. I also feed their roots
with those hammer in type food pellets at the same time I aerate them.
They all get new leaves and flowers, but they don't want to grow up;
it's as if they've been bonzai'd. I was thinking of shooting them up
with butyric acid, but I'd like to get expert advice before I try
anything drastic.

Thanks in advance,

Randolph

"HealingMindN" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I'm glad I found this group. I have 3 crepe myrtle, 1 Japanese elm,
and 1 Saphire dragon that were in pots for years. Now that they are in
the ground, they don't want to grow anymore. They've been in the
ground for at least 3 or 4 years. I give them blood meal, acidifying
plant food, and aerate their roots every year. I also feed their roots
with those hammer in type food pellets at the same time I aerate them.
They all get new leaves and flowers, but they don't want to grow up;
it's as if they've been bonzai'd. I was thinking of shooting them up
with butyric acid, but I'd like to get expert advice before I try
anything drastic.

I grow Crepe Myrtles without trying. My Crepe Myrtles grow children
*everywhere* that we pot up and give away. They grow like weeds (not that
I'm complaining) and all without the first bit of fertilizer/food. We prune
every other year to keep the one closest to the house managable (under 30'
tall) but the others we leave alone.

The youngest of them, 3 year old trees sprouted from the big/old tree, have
grown from an approx. 8" single stem to huge, bushy, 6' tall trees that are
prolific bloomers. I have single trunk Crepe Myrtles as well, ones I
purchased in 15gal pots this spring, and while they don't bloom as
prolifically they grow at a pretty fast rate and have larger blooms than the
"wild" ones.

--
Tara

Sorry, I should have said that I'm in zone 8 and while I don't know their
variety names, my trees are mostly pale to medium pink with a hot pink, red,
med. purple & Natchez white thrown in.

--
Tara

HealingMindN wrote:
Hi,

I'm glad I found this group. I have 3 crepe myrtle, 1 Japanese elm,
and 1 Saphire dragon that were in pots for years. Now that they are in
the ground, they don't want to grow anymore. They've been in the
ground for at least 3 or 4 years. I give them blood meal, acidifying
plant food, and aerate their roots every year. I also feed their roots
with those hammer in type food pellets at the same time I aerate them.
They all get new leaves and flowers, but they don't want to grow up;
it's as if they've been bonzai'd. I was thinking of shooting them up
with butyric acid, but I'd like to get expert advice before I try
anything drastic.

I cloned a bush last year, kept in house all winter, and put in ground
in spring. Four little bushies still alive but have not grown at all.
Same thing with a hydrangea 2 years ago. I'm wondering if left in pots
inside over winter and not going dormant has caused problem.
Frank

HealingMindN wrote:
Hi,

I'm glad I found this group. I have 3 crepe myrtle, 1 Japanese elm,
and 1 Saphire dragon that were in pots for years. Now that they are in
the ground, they don't want to grow anymore. They've been in the
ground for at least 3 or 4 years. I give them blood meal, acidifying
plant food, and aerate their roots every year. I also feed their roots
with those hammer in type food pellets at the same time I aerate them.
They all get new leaves and flowers, but they don't want to grow up;
it's as if they've been bonzai'd. I was thinking of shooting them up
with butyric acid, but I'd like to get expert advice before I try
anything drastic.

Thanks in advance,

Randolph

they are probably rootbound. That means the roots are going round and
round from years in the pots and prevent proper growth. Cu dig them
up and give them a good root pruning so that they have a chance to
spread properly in the future. do it in the fall before they go dormant.

"HealingMindN" wrote in message

I'm glad I found this group. I have 3 crepe myrtle, 1 Japanese elm,
and 1 Saphire dragon that were in pots for years. Now that they are
in
the ground, they don't want to grow anymore.

Did you tease out the roots when you planted them? If the plants were
root bound or the roots were spiralling round as is quite possible if
they were in post for years then they will not grow at all well, ever.

I believe I can do that with the crepe myrtles because they were in one
gallon pots. The japanese elm and the saphire dragon were in 5 gallon
pots. How would I dig up the bigger ones w/o shocking the roots?
Thanks in Advance!

simy1 wrote:

they are probably rootbound. That means the roots are going round and
round from years in the pots and prevent proper growth. Cu dig them
up and give them a good root pruning so that they have a chance to
spread properly in the future. do it in the fall before they go dormant.

I massaged the roots in the crepe myrtles by hand; they were in 1
gallon pots, so that was easy. I just walked on the roots of the
sapphire dragon and the japanese elm because they were so big and
heavy. I assume that my job was not good enough because they are all
stunted. Too little teasing, too late.

Farm1 wrote:


Did you tease out the roots when you planted them? If the plants were
root bound or the roots were spiralling round as is quite possible if
they were in post for years then they will not grow at all well, ever.

HealingMindN wrote:
I believe I can do that with the crepe myrtles because they were in one
gallon pots. The japanese elm and the saphire dragon were in 5 gallon
pots. How would I dig up the bigger ones w/o shocking the roots?
Thanks in Advance!

you will shock the roots, no way around it, and lose maybe a season of
growth. But later the plants will grow properly. don't be nice when you
prune, what can be spread, you spread, what cannot be spread, you cut.
There will be more cutting than you expect, perhaps 30-50% of root
mass. Since they will get a shock regardless, you try to solve the
problem once and for all. You may choose to prune the aerial parts to
make the plant more resistant to winter and drought, or you can leave
it as is and coddle it a bit with winter mulch and some irrigation next
year until the plants recover in full.


simy1 wrote:

they are probably rootbound. That means the roots are going round and
round from years in the pots and prevent proper growth. Cu dig them
up and give them a good root pruning so that they have a chance to
spread properly in the future. do it in the fall before they go dormant.