great pics

whats the rest of the story .. how did you deal with them.. did you go into a bigger pot ... etc ...

most likely.. it put its roots towards the outside.. because that is where the water ran off ... the problem with the media.. as it breaks down.. is that it loses its porosity ... and when you drench it.. the middle no longer allows the water to run thru as freely ...

are you now considering that 4 to 8 years to a bit too long.. in between refreshing of the media????

they are great pix.. but i would like to know what your conclusions are.. as to the project ...

ken

I agree with ken(reluctantly!). When I have opened a grossly over age potted specimen, I have noticed the interior soil so dense no water can penetrate and water runs down the edge of the pot, where the roots will then be concentrated. To be able to work on the roots has taken hours of soaking the root ball, then washing with a power washer to blast out the soil from the roots. Al

Do you plan on replacing with new soil? Might be a good time to prune the top too. These look like 15 gallon? Any opinions on soil type...maybe more perlite?

The pots are about 12 gallon media and appear to be bagged premium potting mix. The type that is mostly black peat, compost, and some sand. That is what I was using at the time but don't remember exactly.

All were still taking water very well and not just around the edges. They would accept at least 1.25 gallons at each morning watering before drainage. That's 10% which I think very good.

I wish now I hadn't done the blueberries but had a good mix and was in the mood. I cut off about 50% from the sides and bottom and replanted into same size pot.

Trees and figs, in my experience put out a lot of roots that circle the pot no matter the mix. It appears that blueberries are much less prone to put the roots on the edge. They had a uniform mat of roots throughout the pot.

My conclusion is that organic mixes can last much longer than many in the containers forum claim. This appears to be especially true for blueberries.

Also many on the containers forum suggest that maximum vitality, vigor for fruit growers, is essential. It's not, some bonsai effect, shortage of water, improves fruit eating quality.

Cool stuff Fruitnut. Looks like I wont have to worry about BB for a while.

blueboy:

All organic mixes are different. Watering methods and climates differ as well. Organic potted mixes are suseptible to breakdown, water logging, and root death. It can and does happen. If your plants lose vigor or the pot quits taking as much water as previously, you probably need to repot.

My point is it doesn't always happen that way.

Fruitnut, I deal with numerous root bound potted trees every season in my nursery. Your plants look to be in better shape as far as circling roots than my potted plants.

I don't power wash the soil away, however, although this is often recommended. I just don't find it at all necessary, and I prefer leaving some fine roots imbedded in the potting medium when I move the tree into real soil (I realize that this is not what your project is about).

What I do is pull the circling roots piece by piece out of the ball (this is mostly with apple trees). When I put the tree into real soil I stretch the roots straight and as well distributed as possible- pegging the roots down if necessary.

I often will be able to provide a transplanted 15 gallon potted tree with a root distribution that extends out in as much as a 6' diameter "circle" from the trunk. This allows the tree to do far better than some B+B'd tree that's lost most of its functional root system. The only problem is that it can take up to half an hour or more untangling the roots and then digging trenches to place them in that go way beyond the initial planting hole.

Obviously this info is not of much use for people repotting plants where the idea would probably be to cut back the circling roots to fit into the new pot.

Fruitnut, thanks for sharing these great pics!

Harvestman, thanks for the info. I have potted trees I hope to eventually plant outside.

Has anyone tried Turface MVP as a soil additive? It's a calcined clay material that is supposed to improve drainage and prevent compaction. I think I read about it on the fig forum. It is marketed for athletic fields. Its advocates say that not all calcined clay materials are helpful, just this particular product, Turface MVP. If I can find it locally, I may try it when I repot in the spring.