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Soil level sinking in large plant pot.
in Plants
I am looking for opinions and advice. We planted this Acer in a huge pot around 5 years ago. During that time the soil has settled, the level of the soil and plant has dropped by around 4 - 6 inches and I would like to know if I can safely top up the level of the soil by a few inches or would this cause the plant to rot? What would you do - ignore it, or try to raise the level of the soil up.
Showing the Acer plant with the gap from plant to top of the pot being around 5 inches. The pot is around 36 inches tall x 21 inches across.
I know the ultimate answer is to lift the plant out of the pot and replant at a higher level, but doing that would be a major job and either the plant or we might snap in the process.0
Posts
Water liberally to loosen it and I also use an old bread knife which I slide up and down all round the inside of the pot to help separate the rootball from the pot wall. They can be really clingy and resist when potbound.
Ended up sawing it out in bits from the middle. All transplanted and flowered this year, it was just too congested, had to be done.
Tip it on it's side, and with a bit of 'gentle persuasion' [ie the knife, or similar, round the edge ] and a poke from the other end, you can get plants out. I've done it several times, although it's mostly when something's turned it's toes up.
I usually use a spade to dig round the edge
I wouldn't take the risk of topping it up. You can get away with that if it's only a little shallow, but not that depth.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...