Moving Deciduous Shrubs

[Garden Manager]

I have moved plenty of these in my time gardening and i am sure you would agree that when doing so you'd cut back the top growth a bit to compensate for the inevitable root damage/loss.

Well so i used to beleive...

A short while ago i read something which turned this upside down. It claimed that cutting back did more harm that good and resulted in a weaker plant once replanted. instead the article advocated leaving the top growth alone when moving dormant deciduous shrubs. Doing this is supposed to encourage strong root regrowth in an effort to restore the balance between roots and shoots (which the plant does naturaly).

I was intrigued and as it makes a lot of sense am keen to try it out. I will stress it can only be done this way with deciduous plants when dormant, not when in active grown nor with evergreens.

[Garden Manager]

[laurieuk]

I worked for a while in a shrub nursery we never cut back shrubs, this was before container grown plants when we used to pack in straw and send by goods train.In private gardening I do not cut back unless odd branches show signs of suffering. I think the new leaves when they grow help draw the sap up.

[Garden Manager]

Just to further elaborate on the science a bit, the roots and shoots of plants are usulay in balance ie equal amount of roots and shoots. This ia only altered by the gardeners actions. When we prune hard we remove shoots upsetting the balance, so all the energy in the roots encourages lots of new growth on top to restore the balance.

Conversely if we prune the roots there will be more shoots than roots again upsetting the balance. traditional wisdom says we should remove shoots to restore the balance but this results in a smaller less vigourous plant. What we should do is let the plant restore the balance by itself . If there is more shoots than roots then the plant will grow more roots to restore the balance.

This probably would work for most if not all plants, except that with evergreens removing roots and leaving all the top growth means the shoots and leaves continue to transpire (feed, grow and loose water), yet there arent enough roots to support it long enough for more roots to grow and restore the balance. Ditto for deciduous plants in leaf/active growth. In those situations we should prune to help the plant survive.

I hope this explains things better.