Amur Maple help

[eek]

Soooo much knowledge and experience on this board...

I need some advice before I do something stupid.

I aquired a very nice Amur Maple and a flowering pear for almost nothing from the clearance area (like 15 bucks for both). both have great nabari, nice trunk structure. Problem is that the Maple it is very root bound. Being that I was scolded for repotting a burning bush in my other thread, I am now a little skiddish about repotting.

Question on the maple is, will she be OK to repot without any root pruning (just a little combing) until early spring when I can cut her back and prune the roots, or should I just leave her be until spring? Kinda worried with it that rootbound going into winter.

The pear has a nasty graft but would look great as two trees both below and above the graft. Question on the pear is should I wait until spring to air layer, or can it withstand a winter if I wrap the air layer in a towel for the winter in a garage? It can wait on quick non bonsai soil repot till spring but I have never attempted to air layer this late.

For some reason, this year I have had a major weakness for clearance. I tell my wife its so I can stay out of her hair next spring/summer.

[Gnome]

eek,

Is the Maple exhibiting any symptoms? If it's healthy and you can keep up with the watering, which seems to increase when root-bound, I think that I would wait until next spring to do anything. Consider, it did not get root-bound in just the past few months, and it will likely pass the winter without any intervention on your part.

So far I have always done air layering in late spring after the leaves have hardened off, so that would be my preference.

Norm

[tomc]

If your trees look healthy now, they can wait till spring.

Its not so much a race to a shallow pot, as much as it is a race to a vigorous tree.

The tray and styling will come.

Usualy (for me) an autumnaly repotted tree was snatched from in front of a bulldozer blade. It was repot or perish...

[eek]

Good advice! I am a little concerned about the maple. It looks like it is starting to turn a little early in the season and when I water, the water sits on top and slowly drains through. I was contemplating just putting in a bigger pot and not disturbing the root ball or dirt at all just to give her some breathing room. That shouldnt upset her too much before dormancy, right?