transplanting camellia's

barb · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:05 am Post subject: transplanting camellia's

I have 2 camellia's between 12-18" high, i want to move them into pots as I planted them unknowingly in lime rich soil and they are looking rather yellowish, but is now the wrong time to move them please ?

Greengage · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:22 am Post subject:

Depends on how long the have been planted in the ground. They should be flowering about now, so they would receive a bit of a shock and you would loose the flowers and maybe next years as well.
They can be moved but i would wait until the Autumn as cammelias produce its new flower buds the previous sumer, if you move in the Autumn you could disbyd it. some Camellia cultivars will produce 5 to 7 flower buds on each terminal shoot. Disbudding means that all buds except one or two are removed. By doing this the remaining flowers will be higher in quality and may help reduce the shock and stress to the plant after moving.
If you want to leave them in the soil get a large bag of compost cut it in half make some drainage holes bury the bag in the garden and plant directly into it.

barb · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:38 am Post subject:

They were planted approx 1 year ago, will leave until autumn thank you for advice.

Greengage · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:43 am Post subject:

if theyre aonly a year in the ground i would move them now as they would not be established, yellowing could also be caused by drought or not feeding..