I moved into this new garden 3 years ago. The soil is heavy clay, and I have been improving it with compost, manure, grit etc.... and its 10 times better. However, I went to move some healthy looking shrubs today and they have practically no roots, they pulled right out of the ground with no effort. I checked for vine weevil and other bugs but could see none. There are loads of small holes in the soil from mice could it be them? Or do you think it is the clay soil? Or something else?

I had the same problem, also on heavy clay. I put it down to vine weevil
despite not being able to see any. I figured that maybe in open ground they
could move around so were less visible. Woudl be interested in knowing how
much of a problem it is likely to be though. I thought that garden plants
were supposed to be able to withstand them.

--
Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)

"H Ryder" wrote
I had the same problem, also on heavy clay. I put it down to vine weevil
despite not being able to see any. I figured that maybe in open ground
they
could move around so were less visible. Woudl be interested in knowing how
much of a problem it is likely to be though. I thought that garden plants
were supposed to be able to withstand them.

I wouldn't have thought they would be a problem in heavy clay, in my garden
they much prefer the nice soft multipurpose filled pots.
Could it be the constant wet making the roots rot? Does the plant look
healthy otherwise?
Do you get huge earthquake type cracks in the summer when it dries out,
always happened along a line of peas on our old allotment :-(

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

Following up to zozzer :

There are loads of small holes in the soil from mice
could it be them?

Mice? or voles? Voles'll eat the roots away just below the surface. Are
there any signs of nibbling around stems just above or below soil level on
other plants? Heavy clay won't put them off.
--
Tim C.

"zozzer" wrote in message
...

I moved into this new garden 3 years ago. The soil is heavy clay, and I
have been improving it with compost, manure, grit etc.... and its 10
times better. However, I went to move some healthy looking shrubs
today and they have practically no roots, they pulled right out of the
ground with no effort. I checked for vine weevil and other bugs but
could see none. There are loads of small holes in the soil from mice
could it be them? Or do you think it is the clay soil? Or something
else?

If they are healthy why do you think there is a problem?

If they were being attacked they would not be looking healthy!

Alan



--
zozzer