Acer care & container

[Oxo01]

Following my recent posts about acers i have ordered 2 smaller ones a Fire Cracker and a Garnet which I will keep in pots for now.

I'm reading different things about caring for them so any help would be great.

In addition to the above I was going to keep them in a corner of my very empy boarder, but I spoke to my friend who's acers roots went into her soil ( she forgot to keep a eye on it for ages ) so she ended up with it still in a large pot but rooted in the ground which i don't want untill i get my garden redone.

I was looking for something that I could put the pot in which is a little bigger and maybe enclosed with no holes in bottom to stop it doing the same or any other suggestions please.

They need drainage in pots so don’t enclose them.

Don’t use a plastic pot, use ceramic or clay. The pot doesn’t need to be big, the roots are shallow and need oxygen so lots of drainage is needed as water logging will
kill it.

It will need repotting when you see roots at the surface of the soil, or roots growing out of the pot's drainage holes and the soil no longer retaining water.

You could put a paving slab under the pot to stop roots going into the soil but you must raise the pot up
on feet to allow drainage.

Thank you PInkyStarfish
I just thought if I put original pot / plant in another pot or something with no holes it may be ok, but on thinking the water would just stay in the outer pot and prob get water logged or kill it lol ( if I dont kill before hand)
I have some unused Porcelain tiles left over so I could use them ? and just buy feet .

Terracotta clay pots have a tendency to dry out too fast on hot summer days, so a ceramic pot with drainage holes would be better. As a pp says, stand it on a slab or a couple of bricks to stop it rooting into the soil. Site it somewhere sheltered and away from strong winds. They can cope with full sun if they are well-watered and kept moist. Full sun gives you better autumn leaf colour too. I think 'Garnet' is a dissectum (finely toothed leaf) variety, and they are more prone to wind damage and leaf scorch, so that one might be better in partial shade.

You don't have to plant into the ceramic pot, you can just keep it in its plastic pot and slip that into a decorative one.

Forgot to ask so when repotting is req I just get a bit bigger than the below pots.
1 is in 7.5 litre container.
90-100cm
2 is 4-5 litre container
75-100cm wanted bit bigger but had sold out.

Rubble buckets would be a cheap temporary solution. You can stand the acer on a large plastic dish inside. They're fairly slow growing plants. It would be ideal to plant them out in November when their leaves have dropped. Make sure the location is sheltered, especially if they're dark red leaved, as they can get wind burn

Love an Acer! I've got about 10.

I have an acer palmatum orange dream which i planted in the ground but it didn't grow so I transferred it to a terracotta pot and it has flourished. I have bought a giant plastic one for when it outgrows its current pot as I want it so big we can sit underneath it. I couldn't afford a huge porcelain pot so had to be plastic.

@Needlenardlenoo
Do you mean rubble like this ?
Pic attached.

@BooseysMom
Sounds lovely to provide shade Mine wont grow that large as they are dwarf weeping / casscading type.
I have 3 large plastic pots 2 of which my tomatos are in and loads of bit smaller ones sitting there with nothing in lol

@Oxo01 When you are repotting (and this applies to all plants in pots long-term), don't put it into a much larger pot thinking it will help. It doesn't. It's called 'over-potting' and has a variety of problems. One is that the roots don't spread through all of the soil evenly, they race straight to the bottom, thus wasting most of the compost. Another thing is that a much larger pot will hold onto far more water than the plant is ordinarily able to use (particularly in the colder, wetter months), and the plant ends up sitting in constant wet. This can very often cause root rot. Finally, old compost goes stale & manky and the structure starts to break down, which again, can cause problems for the plant. Plants need air as well as water at the roots, so having a plant in soggy decomposing airless soil is not advisable.

So basically, when repotting, go to the next size up from the current pot, and don't repot until the current pot is well filled with roots.

@Yamadori thank you for this
I watched a video of a man I think up north ( im in london) he advised of this. He has loads of different types & sizes all look good.
He mentioned something called Ericaceous he uses / mixes with the soil on some or all not sure.

Ericaceous is the type of compost they need. It refers to the acidity of the soil. I have the right kind of soil anyway. If you look around your neighbourhood and there are healthy looking acers growing, maybe so do you (when you come to plant them out).

Yes exactly - not to pot it into but as a temporary solution so you can keep it hydrated.

I think we have clay maybe as when I dig it only goes a few inches and then its think brownie/ yellow thick clay like.
So when I planted some things before I had to dig out a lot of that clay thing and them put spil on them put clay back intoll it was at height it was prior to me digging .

When i got this house it was a new buildbuilt on a old arms site so we all had the same.
Seen black lace growing but no acers but other is a large development.
Hate the clay whatever it is !

Oh definitely don't plant anything in clay! We had a new build once like that and just had pots and a couple of raised beds.

@Needlenardlenoo
I'm.assuming it clay as that what it looks and feels like lol
That's why I dont want to plant them in the ground.

I'm still looking for a decent experiand person to do a total redo of my garden then I can have raised beds etc.

So anyone who knows a good landscaper in London please let me know my decking is falling to bits and I want it all replaced with tiles along with the other stuff

They do prefer soil on the slightly acidic side and you can use ericaceous compost, but to be honest unless you are in an extremely hard water area and watering them a lot, they can manage just fine. They are nowhere near as fussy as rhododendrons and azaleas, for instance.

Thanks everyone for all your info,
I will update or ask more soon i am sure.

Update
Recived the acers some weeks ago, better than expected. Few ends had brown bits but nice size etc.

I have kept them in the pots delivered in and sat them in a little bigger ones since .

I have them raised on trolley thing with wheels so drainage ok.

So was going to buy some bark type stuff to put on top of pot for winter protection but should I feed it with something now or later ?
Is bark ok or something else.

The smaller Fire Cracker was delivered with a small stick in a & little tape around it should I undo that now?

The 1 highest branch is my about 4ft.

The bigger Garnet did not have a stake in but i have put one in it for last 4 weeks should remove it ?

It is just over my shoulders in height ( im 5ft) stem is a bit bent where they potted it.

I have been moving them in/ out of sun. Have some brown bits still but have buds & lots of leaves still.

But I am struggling with the recent very strong winds as they were very exposed as my garden is bare ( long storey) so had to bring them in for the night.
Thanks

I second this! I tried planting a young acer in clay and it became waterlogged in winter and baked dry in the summer. I transferred it to a terracotta pot and it's flourishing. I'm amazed it survived in the clay tbh.

They are both in pots and I plan to keep them in them
But do i place bark on top of the pots for winter and how to shelter them if I have no covered space, our garden is a sun trap but in winter its a wind trap aswell.
When i have garden re done i will probarly move to raised beds or just keep in pots as they are dwarf type.