just repotted my picea pungens hoopsii from a10inch pot to a12 inch pot i the am going to transfer the tree to my garden in a months time

Hi Micky have to say I would not have repotted now if you are planning to plant out in the garden in a months time, but what is done is done. When you come to planting in the ground submerge the whole pot in an even larger container of water and leave to soak for at least 24 hours. Remove the tree from the pot and gently tease the rootball apart to allow the roots to spread. If need be turn the garden hose on it to get the compost out from between the roots to make it easier to open up. In fact if it is a very peaty compost this is a good thing to do anyway! Once in the ground remember to keep well watered.

Hi Micky,

When you plant the tree out in the garden then you will have to free up some of the pot-bound roots. If you don't then they will continue to spiral round - as they have done in the pot - and will effectively strangle themselves preventing the tree from establishing properly.

I've seen trees that have been planted out from a pot in this way and after 3 or 5 years in the ground they have been unable to root into the surrounding soil, making the plant unstable and severely undernourished.

The best way of separating the tightly-bound roots is by soaking the whole root ball in water for 30 mins or so and then, gently shaking or teasing the roots away from one another. It's worth spending some time on this and doing as good a job as possible because the better the job that you do then the better the plant will be able to establish.

Just be careful when teasing out the roots. Conifers are surface rooting, and often happy slightly congested. So long as there are new white/cream root tips forming around the root ball, they will forge away to make good root growth. Dig the hole in the ground square, rather than round (that will aid te spread of the roots), don't use peat when planting, (rather your own garden compost and a lttle chicken manure fertiliser added in) , and water in well. Just out of interest, why not plant now? I know autumn's the 'right' time, but as it's pot grown, any time's okay so long as you can provide the aftercare. Better in the ground than in a pot.
Phil J

just to say a quick thank you moon grower ilex and philjeffs.

You're welcome Micky.