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Shrubs half dead
On 04/10/2014 10:54, Bob Hobden wrote:
"stuart noble" wrote sacha wrote: stuart noble said: A lot of shrubs are doomed from the start if the root system isn't right. I always soak them overnight and tease the roots but, if the root ball is too dense, they will always be rather feeble specimens. I have learnt not to trust garden centres in this respect. You're better off buying from a market stall where the turnover is high. Most nurseries and garden centres have a very rapid turnover! There are certainly some good market stalls and bargains can be found but it is then a case of caveat emptor all too often. I'm sure the family run centres are as good as they ever were :-) Too many round here appear to be part of large groups. Shrubs that don't sell hang around till the following year and the price increased because they're that bit bigger. Our experience with a gc near us is that they chuck things out, especially once they stop flowering. Only the very largest and most expensive things are kept over. They never, ever re-pot or pot on, which is a tragic waste of money and is of course a hidden cost passed on to the buyer! Nurseries, by contrast, do pot on and a higher price reflects that in terms of time, pot, compost, general nurturing. I do wonder if the OP, being rather new to gardening, checked the root system of his shrubs, and dug a big enough hole to let the roots spread easily into their new home. It is just possible that, if he waits for the plant to go dormant and then digs it up very very carefully, he'll find the roots still need a bit of teasing out. As you say, if they were pot-bound they won't get off to a good start. Teasing the roots isn't always easy IME. I've had shrubs where cutting slits in the root ball was the only option. My local GC has just emptied all unsold seed packets into a dustbin and marked them down to 50p. Now that they're all jumbled up, they won't sell any. I know because they do it every year! Yes Wyvales do that presumably to save space for their Christmas display. I have occasionally saved a lot on seeds I want and did this year, but they hadn't jumbled them up when I looked. Ah yes, Wyevales who became part of GC Group but are now apparently taking them over! Crazy place. |
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