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Has anyone got any positive stories about transplanting a cordyline from ground to a pot? Unfortunately all I read is stories about people asking about moving the cordyline. Once moved did your cordyline recover from the stress? Did you do anything to help de stress the plant? I moved my cordyline to a large 60cm diameter container today. I first filled the container with some soil taken from digging it out. I then transplanted the plant into the container and filled it with John Innes no 2 and a good sprinkling of growmore. I placed pebbles around the trunk on top of the soil to keep in the moisture and then moved the plant to a south west facing aspect. I gave it a good water and sprayed the leaves as it was rather hot today. Anymore I can do?


On plant Cordyline australis


Answers

 

I would cut off about 1/4 of the leaves, starting with the oldest ones, to put less strain on the roots. A dose of dilute seaweed extract would also help.

6 Aug, 2020

 

And stand it out of the sun if possible in the meantime - it'll be less stressed in the shade, especially while its so hot.

7 Aug, 2020

 

Thanks
I removed a quarter of the leaves. tomorrow I will feed with seaweed extract..
I also had the umbrella over it for shade

7 Aug, 2020

 

If it's not too late, don't give it the seaweed feed - its already got nutrients from the John Innes and the growmore you added - giving more won't be helpful and may be damaging, especially as, having been dug up, the roots need time to regenerate and recover so they won't be transporting nutrients anyway. Just keep it out of the sun and water as necessary.

8 Aug, 2020

 

Thank you.
Do you have any idea of time it takes for the roots / plant to recover after the transplant?
I have a south facing garden so theres not much shade. Im using the parasol to shade it.

How long would it take till Im out of the woods? So far the plant looks healthy. Not seen any wilting or discolour of the leaves.

8 Aug, 2020

 

See what it looks like by the time 4 weeks has gone by... any major issues will be obvious by then. How well it copes is largely down to how easy it was to dig out without destroying too many roots...

8 Aug, 2020

 

It was fairly easy to dig out. I was most surprised by this. TBH, I did not see any damage to the roots. There were a couple of small rhizomes at the base which were fairly close to the trunk. Never saw a long tap root. There were some fibrous roots.
I basically dug the soil out around the base. It started moving and then I slowly let it lay on its side and cleared more soil around the roots then I just lifted it out the hole.

I doubt there was more than 30cm of roots around the base.

9 Aug, 2020

 

That;s not unusual - they don't have a massive root system and rarely, if ever, cause problems with house foundations or pipework. There's a few properties near me with Cordylines up to 13 feet tall growing within a foot of a house wall with no problems...

9 Aug, 2020

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