The root balls on JMs are not very big. I have known people dig and move them 100s of miles while they are in full leaf. If you get 2 of the 24 inch, plastic plant "saucers", that stand about 18" tall, you should be able to dig the JMs (dig at least as wide as the drip line, and then make adjustmments as the root ball is made evident) and put them in the pots with no problems. If you need to trim a few roots to make them fit properly, it should still not be a problem. Keep them in part shade (at the least, afternoon shade) and water them well, waiting for the top couple of inches of soil to dry before watering again, and they should be fine. Don't feed them. If you can't find the wide planters, then any LARGE pot should do. Ask at your local nursery or at a landscaper for a 7 or 15 gallon nursery pot - you may have to pay for them, or they may give them to you. If you use a 15 gal., then put a large garbage bag of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom to take up space - the more dirt there is, that the roots don't/won't fill up, the greater chance of rot setting in. Adjust the amount of "fill" according to the tree's root ball size/depth.

I don't have any expert advice for you, but I just wanted to say I feel really bad for you. I can just imagine her spraying the Roundup like she was putting out a fire. Roundup and weeds are all she knows. I love my trees. I've lived with them for many years and have an emotional attachment to them. As far as dealing with her - find out what the laws are first. Then read her the riot act, calmly but assertively, and tell her what the law requires. (Maybe give her a photocopy or a phone number to call if she has questions.) Give her a deadline to make the corrections, and tell her you will take further action with an impartial third party if she does not do so. If she makes any remarks other than "I'll take care of it immediately!" then just tell her clearly that she does not understand how serious a matter this is, and that her actions are a clear-cut violation of your property rights. The longer she ignores it, and the condition of your property continues to deteriorates, the more difficult it will be for her to resolve financially. If she gives you a hard time, tell her that her attitude is unacceptable, and forces you to put the matter into the hands of a third party immediately. And follow through, of course. This approach has worked for me, and I have never had to take legal recourse, because my no-nonsense attitude gets their attention. It is also civil discourse, and there have never been left over bad feelings. Good that she is moving, but you need to think and quickly if you want her to correct the damage that has been done, that you can at this point document, before she is gone and can ignore you. Good luck. Stick up for your trees!

I appreciate the advise, but think many of the roots have been severed. I am low on funds and made a deal with a young man to move these trees into a containers for an exchange for a pool table. He sounded like he new what he was doing. I now fear that the job was too much and that he and his help did not get enough of the root system. They cut many of the large roots to fit into one of those 58 gallon containers. The top off the container was cut off about 1/4 way down and several holes drilled in the bottom and filled about 1/4 way with pine mulch. The containers were pretty tall but not very wide. I am now afraid that in my haste and knowing that this need to be done ASAP that they may not survive. Checking on their progress I saw that they had cut many large roots that were pretty close to the tree to able to fit the diameter of the container. Both trees took them all day to do and I watered both imediately after being put into the containers. It is now several hours later and the one seems fine so far, but the first one dug appears to be wilting. Is this normal do to the shock or have I made a grave mistake. I was advised not to fertilized them, so that I would not burn them. Is there anything I can do to help with the root system? It seems to me that a lot of the root system was cut and only a small ball transported with these 3ft trees that have been in the groung for approximately 10 years. I would appreciate any advice. I will feel horrible if these trees die, when I could have left them on the existing property. I just really wanted these trees for my future home.

I live in South Africa, with a temperature of between 61 - 93 Fahrenheit, or between 16 - 33 Celsius for summer. For winter 28 - 72 Fahrenheit, or between -2 - 22 Celsius. This is the second time that I've lost a Japanese Maple the first lack of light or to much water. This time around I planted in a spot that received sun between 11 and 3 o'clock and rest of the day shaded. It began to loose its leaves showing the typical water droplet on leaves burns that has been described on the forums. I addressed the watering from the sprinklers. Later it actively created new leaves, whereas other leaves were scorched basically green/brownish. As discussed before the tree was most-likely under extreme stress and needed saving. Unfortunately I best thought to replant the tree since it was not located in a pot. So I left it in my room with plenty of light then went away a few days. I left instructions for it to be watered twice a week if the soil is dry. Now I came back last night. I found no new sprouting leaves and the trunk is black with some green spots (original bark I presume). I was told the tree was covered with a white pest of some kind, and was thus cleaned with soap water. First question: Is the tree dead? Second: any general suggestions regarding the climate. Since the general solutions posted relates to 1)ensuring that the cultivar can cope with the climate and 2) planting it in positions that gets morning or later afternoon sun, thus filtered sun during noon. The Idea of the cultivar is lovely, I'd like to have some of those trees in the back yard. Provided I can get it growing.