322 Q&A Transplant a Fruit Tree? How to Remove a Stuck Plant From a Nice Pot

Show Transcript

322 TRANSCRIPT Q&A Moving Fruit Trees, Radish Issues, Big Plant Removal from a Nice Pot

Farmer Fred

Welcome back to the Tuesday edition of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Unlike the Friday edition, we're dedicating the Tuesday podcast to answering your garden questions. Stay tuned to find out how you can get your garden question into the program. So come on, let's do this.

Q&A - CAN I TRANSPLANT AN OLD FRUIT TREE?

Farmer Fred

We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. A lot of ways you can get your questions in. You can go to speakpipe.com and yell at your computer, go to speakpipe.comgardenbasics, talk to that little microphone in your laptop or your smartphone. And your audio question will somehow magically get here. You can use your smartphone as a phone. Wow, what a concept. You can call or text us the question 916-292-8964, 916-292-8964. Fill out the contact box at GardenBasics.net . You can send an email to us: send it to Fred at farmerfred.com. tTo help us out to answer these gardening questions. Debbie Flower is here. America's favorite retired college horticultural professor. Debbie, have you ever moved a fruit tree from one place to another?

Debbie Flower

no. at home, planted him and left him.

Farmer Fred

All right. Marilyn writes us. She lives here in Northern California and Marilyn says: “I have a one acre orchard that was planted with a very mixed variety of about 30 fruit and nut trees, planted around 1990.” Okay, that's a long time ago.

Debbie Flower

34 years ago. Old trees.

Farmer Fred

She goes on to say, “From the 12 or so surviving are citrus, an orange and a grapefruit. One is a pear, and all three are sweet and high producers. I'm selling the orchard with the right to transplant those three trees and move them up to my new home. But all my research indicates the citrus is risky due to age, and that they never go completely dormant. But the pear might have a better chance. The buyer plans to cut them down. I did transplant the grapefruit when it was about seven years old. I didn't have a clue to what I was doing. But it survived. Well now I'm trying to get estimates. But landscapers and arborists don't seem to do transplants anymore. Only one is coming out soon to take a look at it. Off the top of your head, Would you have any suggestions or ideas? Thanks for all you do, Marilyn.”

Off the top of my head? I'd say you have some pretty old trees there.

Debbie Flower

Yeah. 34 years for producing fruit tree is often the limit of its life, especially the deciduous ones. Part of that's based on how they're handled in a commercial orchard, which hers is not, I know. So that may extend their lives.

Farmer Fred

Actually, it would be the other way around in a commercial orchard. They'll take trees out at 20 years, maybe 25 years old.

Debbie Flower

Yes. Right. And because they've reached the maximum production and they're going down, but also sometimes because they're pruned more severely, they're sometimes shaken, although a pear tree wouldn't be shaken. So yes, there's sometimes beaten up a little bit more, but then they're replaced earlier in their life. But 34 years is an old tree. Old trees can be great. And they're probably so sweet because they've got great root systems and they're established really well. Any transplanting is going to limit that root system. There's absolutely no way you can get the entire root system out of the ground with the plant. There are companies that have tree spades. So if you're still looking for somebody to move them, you need a company that has a tree spade. A tree spade is mounted on the back of a pickup truck, a big pickup truck, not your conventional truck. They're like big metal salad tongs, and they dig down inside the soil, probably five feet, then come to a point and close down around from either side around the root ball and pull the whole tree, soil ball and all, out of the ground. They had one come to the UC Davis campus when I was a graduate student there, and so of course we all had to run over and watch it take the plant out of the ground. It was a big tree. And that's what they're used for, is big trees. And the trees apparently survive enough that people are willing to do this. But for fruit trees, I'm not sure it's worth it.

Farmer Fred

Yeah, you see a lot  of  olives and palms transplanted. Palms are fairly easy to transplant.  The two palms that sit outside left field of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles were transplanted to that area from Northern California. And they're still alive and well there. But that's a rarity now, for a producing fruit tree. Now, I think these trees if you want to save them, Marilyn, I think what you need to do is take some cuttings and do some grafting.

Debbie Flower

Right.  I don't know, is that legal in citrus? Is it legal to graft?

Farmer Fred

Is there citrus police around?

Debbie Flower

Well, you can't propagate citrus unless you are certified to propagate citrus. Because of the pests in the citrus.

Farmer Fred

you're just a spoil sport.

Debbie Flower

I don't know if anybody's gonna catch her doing it. I don't know how far she's moving. If it's within the same township, I would think that it's not a problem. If you're gonna have the pest at one of the location in the township, you're gonna have the pests, the other one too.

Farmer Fred

But basically for the citrus, it's to prohibit the transfer of Huanglongbing, citrus greening disease. Yes. So yeah, you might have a point there that transplanting a citrus tree, from one county to another, especially if you're going from a quarantined county or a quarantine area into a clean County, that might be a problem. So, yeah, judging by the age of these trees, I think I'd start over.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, I think by moving them, I think the reason they're so sweet and productive is because they are old and stayed in one place. I think if you try, if you dig them up and move them, you're going to disrupt all of that and they're not going to be as productive. You're going to lose large sections of them. And it's going to take them several years to reestablish, you might as well just get a new one.

Farmer Fred

That's what I tell the people who say, “Why don’t you come on over for the evening?” No, I'm not moving.

Debbie Flower

I'll be sweeter and more productive here.

Farmer Fred

The grafting is the way to go. And if you leave the pear, for sure, yeah. And if you're going to be looking for advice on how to graft, the California Rare Fruit Growers does scion exchanges throughout the month of February, usually January, February, March. there are chapters throughout California that put on scion grafting demonstrations during their annual scion exchanges at each chapter. Plus your local Master Gardener organization in the county, you may have a grafting expert too, there. Or a demonstration garden where you can see grafting demonstrated so you can do it yourself. Right. It's fun. It's fun. Yeah. And you don't have to go to the expense of trying to move that tree. Marilyn?  Good luck in your new home. Thank you, Debbie.

Debbie Flower

You're welcome, Fred.

Q&A - WHY ARE MY RADISHES ONLY PRODUCING LEAVES?

Farmer Fred

We're answering garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. Carol writes in and says: “I get no real radishes when I plant radishes, just leaves. Help!” Well, Carol, let's see what we can do. First of all, radishes make a very good sort of I'd call it a sentry crop, if you plant them with carrots. The radishes will let you know where the carrots are planted because radishes will pop up very quickly. But carrots can take their sweet time. So that's why a lot of people intersperse carrots and radishes and Gail Pothour, Master Gardener here Sacramento County, is nodding yes in agreement. So you like to use radishes for that purpose?

Gail Pothour

Absolutely. Yeah, because carrots can take three or four weeks to germinate and the radishes tend to come up very quickly.

Farmer Fred

Now, as far as why your radishes are just producing leaves. Oh man, I'd first thing I would do is get a soil test done.

Gail Pothour

I agree. if you have too much nitrogen or not enough other nutrients in your soil that could affect it. If your soil is not very friable, if it's not real crumbly, if it's more hard, if you're gardening in clay, it could have something to do with it. If you have too much nitrogen, you get more foliage than roots development. So it's kind of hard to say. Are you mulching? Are you keeping the soil from crusting over?Yeah, it's hard to say.

Farmer Fred

What I don't know is: can radishes  attract nematodes? Or, is there some sort of root dwelling creature that might be chewing on the roots, keeping that bulb from developing? But Carol doesn't talk about what the leaves look like. Are the leaves healthy looking, or are they yellowing leaves? Are they in decline?

Gail Pothour

I would think that nematodes probably get on everything. So yes, radishes probably have a nematode that gets on them. But typically that's going to affect it  the way it looks if it's not getting nutrients. So it would stop the flow of nutrients up into the leaves. So it would affect the leaves. I would think they would be yellowed and they wouldn't be getting the nutrients they need. So I think if the leaves look fine and green and lush, that's probably not a nematode issue. Perhaps it's too much nitrogen.

Farmer Fred

Well, here's a test for you, Carol. Grow radishes side by side. Plant them where you normally plant them. And then have a nearby container with brand new potting soil and plant your radishes in that and see if they have the same problem in that container. That container probably should be about a 5,10, or 15 gallon container to see if you get radishes or not. And see if there's a difference between what you grow in the container with that packaged soil versus what you're growing in your own soil.

Gail Pothour

I think that's a good test. As long as it's the same variety that you're growing in both your garden soil and in the container, with the same light and water. yeah Plant the same in both and keep track in a plant diary  and see what the difference is in the growth and if you get the actual radish to form bulbs. Then that could be a good indicator that there's issues with your garden soil. There

Farmer Fred

Go do that radish  test Carol, go for it. Thanks for writing in. Gail Pothour, go back to cover cropping now, thanks for your help on this!

Gail Pothour

Okay, thank you Fred.

Farmer Fred

The radish experts at Iowa State University's Cooperative Extension offer some more clues about why your radishes may be producing lush foliage, but may not develop good sized or absolutely no roots. Why is that? They say, like we did, excessive nitrogen could be the reason, but they also add the rapid onset of hot weather could be the issue; or overcrowding that could produce plants that are all tops with lush foliage and little or no root development.

Q&A: HOW DO I REMOVE A LARGE PLANT FROM A NICE POT…WITHOUT BREAKING THE POT?

Farmer Fred

Diane writes in and asks, “I’ve enjoyed your programs every week now since you started. I mention it often when talking to neighbors, trying to encourage better management, especially with watering, but they won't change their old habits.” Welcome to my world, Diane. “How would you remove a privet tree from a large, 20-inch terracotta clay pot without breaking the pot? I have two, and the trees are about 20 years old. They are rootbound and they're failing. I'd like to replace the plants using the same pots as they are still very nice, but  the pots are very expensive.”

In this case, water can be your best friend, Diane. First, reduce the weight of the failing trees by cutting off most of the tops, leaving just enough of the main trunks and maybe a couple of short lengths of two side branches to allow you to hold on and gently put that expensive pot down on its side. You might want to cushion the area it will lay on with some fluffy towels, old pillows or some spongy box insulation that will break its fall in case you can't gently put the plant on its side. So in that position, use your garden hose with a nozzle on it. That would be a jet nozzle or a full spray nozzle. And start spraying the inside of the container. A forceful spray will loosen the existing soil so that it flows out easily. In time, much of the soil will have been forced out and you can then just maneuver the cramped root ball around and remove it from the pot. Now you might have to cut some of the roots if the top of the container is narrower than the base of the container, but at the very least, you'll save the pot and be able to use it for something else.

Interestingly, Master Gardener Quentyn Young had a similar episode like this way back when we talked about it in Episode 252, in February of 2023. He had a Japanese maple tree that was stuck in a pot and the roots were clogging the drain holes.

Farmer Fred

It's the rainy season and it may be raining where you're living right now. And, when it rains very heavily sometimes, you might notice your trees are surrounded by puddles of water. That's not very healthy for your trees. Let's bring the scope down a little bit and take a look at your potted plants. The plants that grow in containers. Is the water draining through the pot, or not? If it isn't, you've got problems. Quentyn Young is a Sacramento Area garden consultant, landscaper, garden designer, and  pruning specialist. And Quentyn posted on his Instagram feed, @qyounggarden, a picture of a potted Japanese maple, basically swimming in water. The water was not leaving the pot. Q, I have to believe when you got there at your client's house that had the Japanese maple in that pot, and you got your camera and took the picture, it wasn’t currently or recently stopped raining. That water had probably been there a while.

Quentyn Young

Yeah, that was from the storm from New Year's Eve. I just got there 5 days later. So the water had probably been there for almost  week sitting in standing water.

Farmer Fred

And because Japanese maples are deciduous trees, they lose their leaves in the wintertime. Sometimes, without leaves it's hard to tell if it's suffering or not. But I gotta believe that any tree sitting in a large pot where there's floating water in it, it isn't doing the roots any good.

Quentyn Young

No, it's not doing the roots any good. And you can usually tell once you start trying to pour it out, you get that smell from anaerobic decomposition that smells like stinky egg. So yeah, that's kind of a two pronged double strike against it.

Farmer Fred

So whenever it rains, the advice we're trying to get across here, is check your potted plants for standing water.

Quentyn Young

Check your pots. And better yet, in the fall, add to your maintenance list to turn your pots over, tip them over, look to see if the roots have grown through the holes. Do it beforehand, because like I said, I've been so busy with work, it took me a week to get out there. That's not counting how many pots you might have in your yard. And whether you're on vacation, that sort of thing, be pre-emptive.

Farmer Fred

Let's talk about some strategies for keeping that water flowing through the pot. Obviously, you want to have drain holes in the bottom of the pot. However, I've seen some gardeners who will stick a plant in a pot with no holes, thinking that the water somehow magically disappears, and it doesn’t.

Quentyn Young

Yes. And they often will do that. They will promise themselves, “I’ll just keep an eye on it.” But they forget about it a week later, they’ve forgotten that the pot has no drain holes. And then we have one quick rain. Or you have a neighbor that's watering your plants for you. And if you have this droopy plant, you think oh, it needs more water. And you keep watering it until you realize it's drooping because it's sitting in standing water, it’s waterlogged.

Farmer Fred

And so the first thing you do when you buy a pot to put a plant in, especially a large pot that you're going to be having a tree in, like a small Japanese Maple, make sure the water can get out of that pot and go somewhere. The other potted pot problem people sometimes are guilty of is setting the plant in the container on bare soil.

Quentyn Young

This is exactly what happened to my clients’potted  tree. The roots grew through the hole. And these roots were massive. So not only did the roots fill up the drain hole, but it probably took me a good 45 minutes of moving this pot back and forth, just to be able to tip it over to cut the roots off. And I still actually have to go back with a power saw to cut those roots. That's how massive these roots were. I couldn't get to the angle with my loppers. They were pretty significant tree roots coming out of the bottom of that pot.

Farmer Fred

And that picture of the pot that you have with that Japanese maple that you posted on Instagram looks like a pretty nice pot. So one strategy that you might have employed might not set well with the client, they probably were not willing to maybe have you drill a small hole towards the bottom on the backside to allow some drainage.

Quentyn Young

Actually, I hadn't thought about that. if I had had a drill with the proper porcelain bit. That could have been Plan B. But the drainage hole was pretty big to begin with, it was about the size of a mandarin when I planted that tree, which  was probably  four or five years ago.  But now that hole was one solid root. So it took me a while to be able to get that pot at an angle to be able to cut that root. It was a bit of a nightmare, but I did it. I still gotta go back with a power saw  to cut more of the root out. And then I want to try to drill some of the root out that’s coming through the drain hole. But all of that could have been prevented if I just been a little bit more preemptive.

Farmer Fred

If it wasn't an inexpensive pot, one easy way of getting it out would be just to break the pot.

Quentyn Young

I've done that in the past.

Farmer Fred

I think we've all done that. And actually now, during the dormant season, winter, it is a good season for repotting waterlogged deciduous trees.

Quentyn Young

Yeah, doing a little bit of root pruning, putting them back in with some fresh potting soil. And if you're lucky, maybe your local garden center is having a sale on pottery this winter.

Farmer Fred

Would you move up a size in containers when you repot?

Quentyn Young

I would. I would try to. But in the past, like with my citrus trees, I just replant them back into the same size pot, but I do do some root pruning first. And like you said, now's a good time, in the dormant season. With my citrus trees, I would want to make sure that I picked all the fruit off first. But now would be a good time, you could sort of with the Japanese maple treated a bit like a bonsai and just do some root pruning and put it back in the same size. But you could go up a size if you want to.

Farmer Fred

Would you wash off the soil, and then repot it into new soil?

Quentyn Young

I would wash off part of the old soil as part of the root pruning and definitely put it in with some new fresh potting soil.

Farmer Fred

And I bet there'd be something under the pot this time around.

Quentyn Young

Yeah, this is a good example of just how time changes things. I had had it on some pieces of brick and things like that same way that we do with the wine barrels at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. But over time, things sink, and they settle into the ground. And that's what allowed the roots to grow through the hole into the ground.

Farmer Fred

And this is a good lesson for anybody with potted plants, don't set them on bare soil because the roots will find the soil below.

Quentyn Young

Yeah, and if you do put them on the soil, go back maybe once a year, tip it over, make sure that it hasn't sunk into the ground.  I had some pots at home that have done the same thing, the pots had settled into the ground and the plant in the pot started to root into the ground. And so luckily, I caught those.

Farmer Fred

Another strategy would be to put something like a plastic plant stand beneath it, that raises the pot maybe an inch or so above the soil and there's a gap.

Quentyn Young

Or use some pieces of broken brick, I have some bamboo in a pot at home, and what I did just to be extra safe, I used 12 by 12’s and 24 by 24’s concrete pavers that you would use to make a path. And I set those pots on those. So that way I know for sure that there's no way that they're going to root into the ground.

Farmer Fred

You're a gambling man.

Quentyn Young

I know. Because it's bamboo.

Farmer Fred

But what the heck, you got to do something. Just raise it off the ground so that there is that air gap between the pot and the soil that will discourage any roots from leaving the pot and getting into the soil. You mentioned though, that in your Instagram post, that this is a big pot, and for one person to handle it, to tip it over to take a look, it took a bit of effort.

Quentyn Young

It did. It took me almost 45 minutes of rocking back and forth, cutting fairly significant roots to be able to turn the pot over on its side to get to that major root ball, which I still have to go back and cut out. But that explains why my clients had me do it.

Farmer Fred

yeah. But this is a good time of the year to do it, during the dormant season, because it's not pushing out new growth at this time. The days are too short, the soil is too cool. And this would be a good time for doing that repotting and root pruning and making sure that your tree hasn't anchored itself into your garden bed.

Quentyn Young

Exactly. Lesson learned.

Farmer Fred

Yes, indeed. So go ahead, check your pots. By the way, this brings up a very good point. Anytime you are watering those containerized plants, make sure that the water is leaving the bottom. Water it by hand with a hose. Stand there and wait until the water leaves the bottom of the pot.

Quentyn Young

That is true. And like I said, if you have a plant that looks droopy, double check to make sure that it's droopy because, especially in the summertime, make sure that it's droopy because it hasn't gotten enough water and not because it is sitting in standing water.

Farmer Fred

Yeah. Which is often the problem too. That's why moisture meters with a good long probe,  12 inches or even 24 inches, can give you a good idea of what's happening at the bottom of the pot. And usually, like you say, it's a stinking thing.

Quentyn Young

Yeah, and that's also a good rule of thumb for houseplants too. People will often overwater houseplants and not realize  the plant roots are sitting in standing water. Those houseplants will start drooping because of lack of oxygen and they'll just keep overwatering. Get a moisture meter and check the bottom of the pot. Or, lift your plant up, check the weight, soon after watering the plant. Note the weight in your head. The next time you go to water, if the potted houseplant is still heavy, it probably doesn’t need water. If it is light in weight, in may need water. There’s a number of different things to make sure that you're not overwatering.

Farmer Fred

Yeah, unless you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're not going to be lifting a potted tree up, to figure if that is wet or dry.

Quentyn Young

That's correct.

Farmer Fred

All right. Water: it can be your friend. It can be your enemy. And this is the time of year to check your potted outdoor plants. Make sure that there is drainage going on. Quentyn Young has been our guest. He's on Instagram @ qyounggarden. He is also a Sacramento County Master Gardener. He works in the orchard at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. And they always have a great display of fruit trees, deciduous fruit trees and citrus trees, that you can check out and see how they could work in your landscape. The best event at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is always the first Saturday in August, that’s Harvest Day. If you're in Northern California on the first Saturday in August, you need to check out Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. Quentyn Young, thanks so much for keeping us high and dry.

Quentyn Young

Thanks for having me on, Fred.

Farmer Fred

Want to leave us a question? You’ll find a link at gardenbasics.net. Also, when you click on any episode at gardenbasics.net, you’ll find a link to Speakpipe in the show notes, where you can leave us an audio question without a making a phone call. Or, go to speakpipe directly: speakpipe.com/gardenbasics. You want to call or text us? We have that number posted at gardenbasics.net. it’s 916-292-8964, 916-292-8964. Email? Sure! Send it, along with your pictures to fred at farmerfred.com. Or again, go to gardenbasics.net and get that link. And if you send us a question, be sure to tell us where you’re gardening, because all gardening is local. Find it all at gardenbasics.net.

Farmer Fred

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred comes out every Tuesday and Friday and it's brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. Garden Basics. It's available wherever podcasts are handed out. For more information about the podcast visit our website, gardenbasics.net . And that's where you can find out about the free Garden Basics newsletter, “Beyond the Garden Basics”. And thank you so much for listening.