First Thought.
A long time ago, while potting up some Crinum Lilies at MAD Plants, which I had divided (see Blog Post: Division- Not Always A Bad Thing), I thought potting practices may be a good topic to cover.
I’ve worked with quite a few people out in our family nursery and didn’t realize how difficult potting up a plant could be, or may be to some people.
May years down the road, I found this to be true at Busch Gardens as well. We would bring in a person new to horticulture who may have never dealt with a plant in their lives and expect them to know how to plant. You’re not just throwing a plant in the ground or in the pot. There are considerations that must go into it. Some people catch on fast, and others need a little coaching.
It is important it is to pay attention to the little details while potting your plants.
This is a relatively short conversation but important none the less! We’re going to focus on potting containers today. (Don’t worry, we’ll get to ground planting at a later date.)
Stuck In The Middle With You.
Make sure when potting up plants, you make sure the trunk or base of the plant is located in the center of the pot. This is a good tip when buying a plant as well. This allows for equal room all around the plant to grow new roots.
If planting, for instance, 2 or 3 small plants into one pot, make sure they are equally spaced. Everyone needs a little space to grow!
The Colocasia Midnight below from MAD Plants below is a good example of a plant potted correctly in the middle of the pot.
Not The Deep Blue Sea.
When planting any plant in any medium (aka soil, dirt, etc.), make sure you’re not planting the plant too deep. Many times we think that planting it deeper will help anchor the plant when in fact it is only harming the plant.
Like that day while potting up the Crinum Lilies, you may need to stake up the plant until it has the root ball mass to support its foliage or you can cut all the foliage off like MAD Plants does while dividing plants as shown in the photo below with Australian Red Cannas. (Notice these are not in the middle of the pot due to division, where we take a chunk of the roots, plant it and new plants emerges from the roots under the soil. These are rarely centered in pots since you cannot control where the new stalk arises from.)
When you are planting certain types of plants like bulbs or rhizomes, depth isn’t a huge issue because all your new stalks will come from the root or the bulb under the soil anyways. But if you are plating 4″ annuals or perennials, you want to make sure that you don’t burry the stems of the plants. The root ball of your small plants should be even if not slightly above where your soil line is. Planting too deep can cause many stem diseases and make your plant more susceptible to pests upon being very stressed out.
No Tall Timbers Here.
Just like planting too deep, do not plant your new plant too shallow. If much your root ball is above the soil line, your plant will be water stressed. The soil is not just an anchor, but the roots’ food and water source. Your plant will tend to dry out more and its health with most likely decline. This applies to MOST plants. We’ll talk about plants that don’t necessarily need soil at all for survival later. (epiphytes)
Too Little Won’t Cut It.
Make sure you use enough dirt. This is the plant’s only source of gathering nutrition and you want to make sure it has enough medium to grow in and thrive. Without enough dirt, your plant may suffer from thirst (less dirt means less water retention), lack of space, and the ability to anchor itself properly. Just like you like a full plate of food to make you feel good, make sure you give your plant enough soil.
Ideally, once your plant is planted, water in your new container. Once your soil is settled, you can dress the top with more soil. At MAD Plants we would always use this method for planting liners because the individual cells were hard to get enough soil into. So we’d add soil, water, add some more soil, water, and then plant since we usually stuck cuttings (little sections of plants that look like sticks and would eventually grow roots).
Eventually you’ll get use to the way your soil behaves and you’ll know exactly how much soil you need and you won’t have to top dress but until then, it’s not a bad idea!
The Sangria Crinum Lily from MAD Plants shown below was given the proper amount of soil when it was potted. As you can see, the roots are fully covered, and the plant has plenty of room to grow.
Too Much Of A Good Thing, Isn’t A Good Thing.
Just like your plate of food, too much food can leave you feeling miserable. You do not need to pound dirt into the pot, compacting it to where there is no breathing room. That’s right, I said breathing room. Roots needs proper aeration. When you compact the soil in a pot, you hinder water absorption, root growth, and aeration. You also want to make sure you leave an inch or so around the top of the pot making it easy to pick up and move the pot and a lip to catch water and fertilizer.
As you can see below, MAD Plant’s Pink China Colocasias still have room for handling around the edges of the pot. Having a pot too full of soil makes it difficult for handling.
Often times when watering a container that is too full of dirt, the dirt will over flow the lip of the container making a muddy mess for you to clean up and wastes dirt (which we all know if not free when you’re using the good container soil)!
Bigger Isn’t Always Better.
When you transplant a plant, make sure you do not put it in a pot that is too large. Plants grow better when they are slowly bumped up. For instance, when MAD Plants make cuttings in linear trays, they pot the well rooted ones in 1 gal pots and liners that seem to have more difficulty rooting into 4″ pots. This allows the plant to get a good root ball base before placing them in a larger space to occupy. From there we bump 1 gallon to 3 gallon, 3 gallon to 7 gallon and so on. This is a good rule of thumb when planting in the yard too. For best performance, make sure the plant has a good root ball and isn’t just getting started!
The 4″ Yellow Angel Trumpet from MAD Plants below is too small to plant into a 3 gallon pot. It’s next stop will be a 1 gallon.
Root bound Blunders.
If the plant you are potting is over due and root bound, not a problem! Although this is not ideal becuase it will kcause more work on your part, the plant is not lost completely.
Simply “shave” off the outside layer of the root ball and chop off the bottom where roots generally become compacted and circling or you can cut an X into the bottom of the root ball loosening roots and making new ends available for new root growth. This will help spark new root growth in the right direction. If you fail to cut the root ball, growth can be stunted as roots will continue to grow in a circular motion around the plant (as if it were still potted in a container) and eventually strangle it’s self to death. The roots eventually will form a shield against itself making water and nutrient uptake nearly impossible.
It is a good rule of thumb that when you pull the plant out by the truck or base, the root ball stays together, you can repot into a larger pot. If you see roots coming out of the bottom, now is a good time!
Below is a picture of a perfect root ball for planting.
Below is a root ball that should be cut and loosened:
Rocket Science For Dummies.
It’s not rocket science and I don’t mean to scare you if I have, but it’s not just throwing dirt and a plant in a pot. There are considerations that must be taken into account before throwing it all together. Generally, once you get a hang of it, you know exactly how much dirt, when to plant, what size, etc. It’s fun to pot up plants and see them grow and thrive. Potting days were my dirtiest days working at MAD Plants!
Homegrown Containers.
If you need some containers for your patio, porch, pool area, deck, etc. give Homegrown Landscapes a call to make your area more lively and inviting. We’ll find pots specific to your tastes to fit in your area as well as plants specific to your needs.
(813) 763-5082
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