I have a crabapple tree that I managed to dodge the bullet with...I should have repotted in spring and didn't so it got too root bound, and was close to having root-rot, but I did an emergency up-pot at the absolute last minute and it started growing again (it even had one flower). I was wondering if it would be better to put it in the ground for a year or two, and if now, at the beginning of fall would be a good time to do so?

tubaboy wrote:

I was wondering if it would be better to put it in the ground for a year or two, and if now, at the beginning of fall would be a good time to do so?

Tricky one. If it was root-bound, you repotted it, and it started growing again, I'd say you did the right thing and the tree is happy with it.
I have one myself and it has been doing nicely since I repotted it.

Now of course it does depend on the tree. Can't see yours.

The tree looks pretty bad, it lost a lot of leaves, but like I said, had completely stopped growing, and then started again after I moved it to a larger pot.

tubaboy wrote:

The tree looks pretty bad, it lost a lot of leaves, but like I said, had completely stopped growing, and then started again after I moved it to a larger pot.

I don't think it looks worse than mine, which is now also yellowing and dropping leaves.
The pot seems large enough, and it started to grow in it, so I think there's no real need to put it in the ground.
Let's see what others say.

I would get rid of that grass and hair moss.

It is fall, after all.

At the end of the growing season, I discovered that this tree's roots were already coming out of this pot.... I was wondering if I should repot? It was pretty stressed last year, but if the roots are coming out of the bottem, it could mean that the pot is full.. what are your thoughts?

I repot crappy apples ever 1-2 years. Mine fully fill up the container in that period (But I am this growing out the main canopy structure so I get 9ft whips on them).

If you do repot, work the rootbal properly. It feels very unbalanced. Plant it deeper too. You now have a bit of an odd nebari from what I can see.

the nebari is not really good... I know... I was just wondering if the repot now would be too much stress.

You now, vss when spring arrives? Or now vss next year?

I would repot this year at whatever time you think repotting time has arrived (I am almost through repotting for the year; Today I got a new pot for my small mume and repotted that_)

now vs next year is what I meant... The buds have started to swell, so I am going to repot probably this week. I have started repotting the last couple of weeks. I do need to speed it up a bit..