We have had a very late spring here in England, I wonder how everyone is coping with repotting and such a late spring. I have not started yet, hope to tomorrow, because of the snow and frost we have had in the last month. The problem is that the trees are pushing buds in spite of the weather and it will be too late for most deciduous very soon. The weather forecast for the next two weeks is not good either.I can see that at least some are going to be left until next year. I might add that I do not have the means to protect with a greenhouse.
Geoff.

Hi there Geoff,

Yes, indeed here spring has, theoretically, arrived. However temps are still on winter ranges. But that doesn´t seem to bother or worry my Acer Palmatum, which in turn has already begun sprouting all over the place (see attached image). Also, I did a repotting on him two weeks ago. Since the tree was healthy enough I trimmed 50-60 percent of the rootball, so it could fit the new and smaller pot I had reserved for him. So far, so good.



I do believe your time for doing your repotting duties on your deciduous it´s closing its window. Hurry up, make up your mind and do it at once, provided your trees are healthy, that is.

Hope this might help.

Alain

Yes Alain, I must. The trees are fine, it is just the weather. I bought some pots last week in Holland and as I said tomorrow I have a workshop and I am taking at least six of them to repot. As long as it is mild for a few days they should be ok. I still have a few conifers to do but I am not so concerned about them.
I do have a big Hornbeam, and I am going to try to persuade a couple of the guys to give me a hand to do it next week as I can't move it easily on my own let alone repot!
Geoff.

I just did the last repot for this spring today. My crabapple is almost blooming, which is a surprise, as we have had cold, then warm and then cold, and now normalish temps, but after the repot, and a couple of weeks, it has been in a greenhouse with some of the other trees that have started growing already.

I should add, my greenhouse is shelving with insulated bubble wrap.... I did have some type of heating elements that I used when it got down to -9 C a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately I do not have a greenhouse, I have a covered area, but it is not frost free. I have to take a chance and do as many as I can and hope it does not get cold again, at least for a week or so. This has to be the coldest winter I have had growing bonsai. I think my trees have survived, I will know in a month or so. There is one Larch which I thought was not going to survive is dead, but with luck the rest are ok,
Geoff.

I am in the middle of repotting, doing a few trees each night. They go right on their shelves. I have even had to repot 2 trees that had frozen rootballls, yet were throwing out leaves. I truely believe the plants will be fine in most cases.