04/12/2017
Even the Best Planting Designs Reach a Point When Adjustments Become Necessary!
Are your plants too crowded? Is pruning not solving the problem? Transplanting may be the solution.
Here are some important factors to think about when considering transplantation:
**Is it possible that the plant bed just needs to be enlarged, or the shape changed, to get things back in order?
**What do the plants you’d like to relocate look like? Do a careful inspection; if they are large and have been growing together for too long, it is possible that they have grown with no sides, just a top. In that case it would be better to leave them and just try pruning.
** Transplanting needs to be done while plants are dormant - before buds open.
**Size is a factor in transplanting; the larger the plant, the higher the risk that the transplant will not be successful.
Have you decided to proceed after considering all these factors? Remember, transplanting is a delicate process. Dig around the plant as far from the center as the branches are wide, and tunnel underneath to the bottom of the root system. S-l-o-w-l-y lift the plant out of the ground, trying to keep as much of the root system intact as possible.
After replanting water, water, water - especially during the summer. It is essential to keep a balance between having the soil dry out and keeping it too soggy and wet, as neither extreme condition is desirable.
So, how did you do? :-)
