chinese elm repotting question

malik

Sorry no one answered this question, sometimes they get overlooked. here is the deal, i don't know what the temps are like where you live, but just because it has all it's leaves does not mean it is still growing. it may not be cold enough to make the elm drop the leaves, but for sure if it is winter where you are, then the tree is taking a rest stop and won't want to be fed or repotted right now. from your description, it sounds like the tree isn't showing any major signs of stress or being root bound, although since the roots are coming out everywhere I would encourage you to repot this spring. The only time you would want to repot out of season is if the tree is dying and there is no other choice.

As far as the soil mix, I actually used a mix of equal parts pine mulch(sift it ofcourse to get rid of the small peices), turface, crushed granite(chicken grit). What you use in your soil mix is not as important as what you need in your soil mix. For example, if you have really hot summers and the soil is going to get dry every few hours because there is nothing in the mix that retains water, ten you would want to add some organic water retentive soil to balance it out. But if it is a tree that enjoys being dried out a bit inbetween waterings than an all inorganic mix is best. This is a very vague description of how soil mixes work, but for the Chinease elm I use the mix mentioned above.

Please feel free to ask more questions if you need help

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