I prefer to bare root my stuff if the timing allows....before planting. If the timing doesn't, I might hold it in the container for either a fall planting or hold it over till next year, if I have done a bare root root correction and rather let it recover in a pot for a season before I throw it out in the elements. Sometimes plants are upotted and upotted and you have like thick advantageous roots pruned off after removing like 4-5 inches of soil.. I find in plants from #15 to even as small as #2.....once you bare root the thing or get as close to root correction before planting , you can spot stuff you never see if you didn't. I was quite surprise to find one root system, too congested in the shape of a welsh pot grown far too long before it was upotted. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cdjt...ey=26l1ll1gqq5u0tgsml9z1v3nu&st=l0q9fjqz&dl=0 How in-depth do you go on root correction or trying to identify root problems when you receive a new plant and prepare it to be planted Does nurserymen : horticulturist bare root or just -sipe- the rootball before planting
I just avoid buying large (and old) potted trees. Only fast growing stuff like figs or mulberries are accepted by me in a containerized form, if the tree is taller than 1 m. Or if the seller confirms, that the tree was potted only few days before selling (to keep bareroot tree's roots moist during the fair or other selling event).
In most of the world, the maples available to consumers are grown in pots. For me, the most important, if the plant is in reasonable shape, is root correction and getting it out of the peat or coir that greenhouse growers favor. If the roots are really messed up (not uncommon) I might wait until late winter to really attack them. But mostly I find changing the substrate and root correction immediately is the right approach. One thing is sure, if you leave the peat or other greenhouse substrate, you will likely lose the plant. HTH, -E
