Kentucky Coffee Tree Seedlings Transplanted to Larger Pots - August 2022

Ten days ago, I shared a photo of the (now) going-on=two-year-old Kentucky Coffee tree seedlings that I've kept in small 1-quart nursery container since they germinated.  In that post, I talked about how each of the small containers contained multiple small seedlings and it was time to both separate them and upgrade them to larger containers.  With the planting of a few new items in the garden, I found myself having a few 1# nursery pots that I could re-use.  

I got started by pulling the seedlings out of their current homes (14 months since germination) and began to split them up by tearing the root masses apart.  Below, you can see one of the seedlings root system after I divided the clump:

I started with just ONE set of the trees to ensure that they can handle the division of roots.  I figured there were two routes here:  divide the clumps.  Or, simply transplant the double seedling and cut off/prune down the weaker of the two.  

Here, below, is the first of those two divided and placed in their newer, larger homes: 

I watered these two pots in pretty well and have put them out in the beds where they'll get morning shade, mid-day sun and evening shade.  Below, you can see the two Kentucky Coffee Tree seedlings after being grown from seed 14 months ago.  They have woody stems/trunks and a number of leaflets.

My plan is to try to baby these for the next few weeks and see how they do with transplant shock.  If they are fine, I'll divide the rest of them into these larger, 1# pots this Fall and then think about how I can best overwinter them (in the ground again, I'm thinking) as they continue to grow.  Best case, I'll end up with 11 small 1# seedlings that I can continue to nurse here as a seasonal project.