stuart noble wrote:

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 always soak new shrubs overnight, but as a complete amateur
I usually worry that if I tease out the roots
this is likely to do more harm than good.
Any advice on the best way to do this?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

On 04/10/2014 13:16, Timothy Murphy wrote:
stuart noble wrote:

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 always soak new shrubs overnight, but as a complete amateur
I usually worry that if I tease out the roots
this is likely to do more harm than good.
Any advice on the best way to do this?



There isn't one answer that suits all shrubs or trees. Most seem to
benefit from having their roots teased out, but there are exceptions.
When you get your new plant home, do some research (unless you've
already asked at the gc/nursery): if your plant is one of those which
resents root disturbance, then soak it as usual, but plant it with as
little disturbance as possible.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

In article , says...

stuart noble wrote:

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 always soak new shrubs overnight, but as a complete amateur
I usually worry that if I tease out the roots
this is likely to do more harm than good.
Any advice on the best way to do this?

A good rule of thumb is, try not to dislodge any of the potting
compost from the roots.

I cut off any hard dry roots coming out of the drainage holes, before
taking the pot off.

If I can see just a few fresh roots well spaced out down the sides of
the compost, no need to tease anything, I plant it as it is.

If I can see a close fibrous network of fine roots all round the
edges of the compost, I just use my finger tips or the tips of a
handfork to gently scritch/roughen them a little bit.

If I can see large fresh pale/white roots ( almost pencil thick)
spiralling round the base of the pot and the distal tip is in view, I
very gently uncurl it to ease the root loose away from the potting
fibre; when placed in the planting hole the roots might still be
rather curved but their spiral is larger and looser than before. You
can use globs of the filling-in soil to pin them in the right direction
away from the plant, and those growing tips will soon head out into
surrounding soil.

Janet