If you potted-up this spring, you can pull the plant out of the poor soil and stick it back in a better mix. Even though it's never a good idea to have dissimilar soils in the same container, it's better than trying to do a full repot on a deciduous tree in leaf. That exercise usually involves a very hard pruning of the canopy and a loonng recovery period, if it doesn't do the tree in. If you didn't pot-up this spring, let us know & we can explore some other alternatives. Al

First of all That is an Okushimo on the left which is your desired cultivar and the basic acer rootstock on the right. Personally I would cut off the non-furled tree on the right (standard Jap. Acer rootstock) leaving just the okushimo. Wait until next winter seperate that jade plant out of the pot so it can get over having over half of it's foliage removed. Okushimo is a vase shaped upright that gets pretty tall but containerized it will stay relatively short. The curled leaves are not only normal but desirable on this one. That's what gives it character. Just get rid of the dime a dozen acer rootstock tree that is taking over.

You might be surprised to find that the roots are very small. I just looked at some of mine and most have roots under an inch. I would go ahead and repot being careful of the new roots. There is no point to wait another year as spending more time in peat moss is more detrimental. Jane

I heartily agree with Dave. That's a nice looking plant. Is the potting mix fine grained and peaty or more coarse grained? Fine grained soils usually stay soggy long after you water, which suffocates and kills the fine roots that are responsible for taking up water and nutrients. The challenge, then, is to figure out how to make sure the roots spend most of their time in an environment that's moist, not saturated with water. As you'll learn by reading the posts Dave linked, the solution is to repot the plant into a fast-draining highly aerated mix that will retain very little or no water after watering. Don't despair, though, because there are ways to keep your plant healthy until next June. First, you need to monitor soil moisture in the bottom of the pot, which is where roots get damaged by excess or 'perched' water. The easy, sharp, and reliable way to monitor moisture is to sharpen a thin dowel (1/4" or 3/8" work well), push it all the way through the soil to the bottom of the pot, and water only when the dowel comes out clean and dry to the touch. A wooden skewer or disposable chopstick work too. Check daily until you know how fast it dries up, at which time you'll know how long after watering it needs to be checked. Once the dowel comes out dry, water evenly and thoroughly so all the soil gets wet, until 10-15% of the water exits the pot. Leave it upright until water stops draining, then prop it up at 45 degrees for 15 minutes; if your drain holes are around the outside of the pot, most of the perched water will drain out while it's tilted, and for spot with a hole in the center it will drain out when you set it upright. Repeat the last step if you think you didn't get it all.