Root Pruning a containerized japanese maple- HELP!

Hello, first post to this forum...

We have a containerized butterfly japanese maple that i'm sure has reached past its pot and gone into the ground. we've had it for 6 years and i only root pruned the first 3 years. i'm nervous to even try to root prune it. it's in a very heavy, large thick walled terra cotta pot, which is part of the reason i've been "lazy" to root prune it. (well having been pregnant for almost 3 of those six years also factors in, lol.

i'm afraid of killing it. is it even possible to root prune gradually? we're moving house hopefully in the next 2-3 years and would like to take it with us. it was a gift from a family friend.

it's about 7-8 feet high, plus the pot, which is about 2 1/2 feet high.

any hope?


thanks,

joy

Have you tipped the pot to see if the roots are coming through?

I doubt you would kill it taking it out of the pot to trim the roots if needed - however i would wait until early spring before it leafs out to do so - doing it now would only stress the tree i believe.

thanks wha-

yes, the roots are coming thru- 2 giant roots through the pot. will wait until early spring. it is in a protected spot under the eaves of our house, East exposure. sometimes it leafs out pretty early.

how does that work out with leaf pruning and root pruning? don't want to prune leaves while the sap is rising. should i leaf prune after all the leaves fall, so i don't stress out the tree before leaf pruning in spring?

i'm in zip code 19063 of that helps.

do all the pruning before the sap runs.