Waterlogged pot

[SueA]

Does anyone know what's the best thing I can do to save a viburnum (guelder rose) which is in a waterlogged pot? It is in a large pot & the tap root appears to have worked it's way out of the bottom drainage hole & into the surrounding chipped bark mulch & must have blocked the drainage hole completely. The pot is now waterlogged to the point of having about half an inch of water on top of the gravel mulch but the plant is still o.k. & showing new buds. I've tried to move it but the roots must have spread quite a distance as the pot won't budge. I have thought about smashing the pot off but it's a nice glazed one & I don't have another on hand to repot the viburnum in to. Do you think I could drill a hole in it near the bottom to let some water out or would it just crack? Or do you think the plant is a gonner & I should just cut it up, dig it out & start again? I'd like to keep it as it has just produced berries for the first time.

[SueA]

Just noticed I'm now a Cropper - Hayley or Roy?

[PAULW]

SUE
Cant you put a spade under the pot and cut the roots, it sounds as if it is that desperate to get out of the pot you need to pot it up into the next sized pot or root prune it like you do with bonzai's and put it back in the same pot.

[Snadger]

There will be no point in drilling a hole to let the water out as one way or another it has to come out of the old pot anyway!

You only have two options, break the pot or cut the roots off!

[Alice]

I think you can save the plant SueA, but maybe not the pot. One way or another you have to get the plant out of the pot as it has obviously outgrown it, and if it is sitting there with water on top of it, it will drown.
Try cutting the roots under the pot if you can get at them, then see if it will come out of the pot.
If it won't come out, afraid the only way is smash the pot. then see if you can draw the plant out of the chipped bark mulch. If not, you'll just have to trim the roots. You could then plant it in the ground, but if you need to plant it in a pot, remove as much of the sodden compost as you can , and replant in a bigger pot with drier compost. I think, with a wee bit of luck, your viburnum will do allright. Let's know how you get on. Good luck.

[Mrs Dobby]

Just noticed I'm now a Cropper - Hayley or Roy?

Congrats on becoming a Cropper SueA!

[SueA]

Thanks, I'll try & get a spade under the pot to cut off the tap root & work the plant out of the pot, I'll have to go out & buy a new bigger pot this weekend to repot it as I don't have any room in the ground. Hope I can save the original pot as well!I'll let you know how I get on.

[Snadger]

This is the best time of year to be doing what you intend to do, so whatever happens you have given it your best shot!

I've got a feeling you will have a satisfactory conclusion!

[nick the grief]

Hi Sue,

Cut the root off & when you pot it up stand the new pot on a couple of bricks than the roots will be air pruned if they come out the bottom again.

Failing that if it's standing on Bark Mulch why don't you plant it in the ground & save the hassle of repotting?

[dexterdoglancashire]

Just noticed I'm now a Cropper - Hayley or Roy?

Now that is b****y funny! It's brought tears to my eyes! Dexterdog

[SueA]

DDL, I could just settle for Hayley/Harold - that covers all eventualities! Seriously I'm nothing like either of them but love the characters, they're both so sweet.

[SueA]

Nick/Snadger, I managed to buy a pot & got another free with it this weekend from Fryers' garden centre & have been out this morning to liberate the plant from the pot, bit worried though as I hadn't noticed the pot said 'frost resistant' not 'frost proof' & is a lovely terracotta one which might crack (quite thick though so might be O.K.) I am kn*ckered though as it took a lot of levering with the spade & then cutting with secateurs/saw to get through the 2 big roots which had escaped through the drainage holes & a lot of tugging to get it out of the pot. I put it in it's lovely new pot though & trimmed a couple of wayward branches back & it looks O.K. though I'm a bit worried that it had been standing in water for a while before I noticed with all this rain. I couldn't plant it in the ground because although it's standing on bark mulch this is on top of concrete & I would need a pneumatic drill to get through that! I created a fake border by putting down a couple of inches of bark mulch & then putting pots on top of it & it looks pretty good.

[Snadger]

Nick/Snadger, I managed to buy a pot & got another free with it this weekend from Fryers' garden centre & have been out this morning to liberate the plant from the pot, bit worried though as I hadn't noticed the pot said 'frost resistant' not 'frost proof' & is a lovely terracotta one which might crack (quite thick though so might be O.K.) I am kn*ckered though as it took a lot of levering with the spade & then cutting with secateurs/saw to get through the 2 big roots which had escaped through the drainage holes & a lot of tugging to get it out of the pot. I put it in it's lovely new pot though & trimmed a couple of wayward branches back & it looks O.K. though I'm a bit worried that it had been standing in water for a while before I noticed with all this rain. I couldn't plant it in the ground because although it's standing on bark mulch this is on top of concrete & I would need a pneumatic drill to get through that! I created a fake border by putting down a couple of inches of bark mulch & then putting pots on top of it & it looks pretty good.

Glad everything came to a satisfactory conclusion! Now you've just got to find another plant for the original pot?

I think Viburnum is a semi-bog plant , so it should hopefully be ok!