| If you've got lots of time, here is how I've been told to do it, and it seems to work: (sometime around Nov to March would probably be best)using a sharp spade cut a "dotted" circle around the roots of the shrub, with a diameter as big as you want the root ball to be (as big as you can manage when you eventually dig the plant up). You do that by pushing the spade into the ground as far as you can, then lift it, leave a space about a spade-width, and do the same thing again all around the shrub. That way you are cutting off only about half of the roots. Leave it for about two months then cut the top back hard. Leave it for another month then dig it up, with a root ball at the diameter where you previously cut the "dotted line". You now have a shrub with a small top that won't overtax the cut-back roots, but with lots of new tips which is where the plant hormone that grows roots is made. As well, the roots will have branched out where they were previously cut back, so you will have more of the small hair-roots that the plant needs to get moisture and nutrients. When you replant it, make sure the hole you are putting it into is big enough, of course, but also dig up the soil around it and under it, so that the roots will easily shoot out into the soil. Water it in really well, give it a shot of seaweed, a shot of water soluble fertilizer (at the normal rate) and then add some slow release fertilizer a couple of weeks later. Keep an eye on it for awhile, and keep the water up to it for a month or so, but don't drown it. Hope it works. Alternatively, if you move it now it will eventually recover. It is pretty hard to kill a hibiscus. |
