Best way to loosen pot bound roots?
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
12 years ago
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buyorsell888
12 years agoRelated Discussions
root bound seedlings -- loosen the roots?
Comments (4)on the root ball. The more you can loosen the roots, the better. But ,of course, you should take care to not break anymore roots than you have to. Put them in really good soil and water in well. If you live in Zone 5, you probably ought to provide some protection from cold too, like floating row cover, cloches or a cold frame. I suspect the plants were marked down drastically because it's very late for them to go into the ground and make much to eat this year. As the weather gets colder, the plants almost stop growing, if they don't freeze to death. But I live in Zone 8, so I could certainly be wrong! Good luck. You have very little to lose, so it's cheap experience....See MoreCan a young pot-bound tree with circling roots be saved?
Comments (9)Next time you go to buy a tree, pull it out of the pot before you buy it. At least in a normal pot, you should see fine roots around the outer surface of the rootball. You may even see a few that are a little larger, but they should not be so big that you cannot either straighten them out (when you are planting the tree) or prune them away (without worrying about hurting the plant). At planting, you really don't want any roots circling around the rootball or kinked in knots. Your tree's roots will grow larger and larger as the tree grows, so picture the rootball as all those roots grow many times their current size. If all the roots are locked into a tight ball (or pot-shaped cylinder), the trees root system will not be sufficient to support the tree or supply water and nutrients. Even if some roots are able to grow out away from the tree, a potbound rootball will become more congested with age, and failure will become more and more likely. Some people even recommend complete removal of all potting material during the planting process. They believe that poor root system structure is so important, that the extra shock, brought on by bare rooting, is worth it. Personally, I prefer a more modest approach. I remove a lot of the excess potting material, but leave all that I can while still being able to ensure that all the roots are straightened out and growing away from the tree. Usually, I form a cone at the base of the plant that allows the roots to radiate away from the base of the tree and slightly down into the soil. If you have questions about this, please let me know. Sometimes describing things like this in few words is not easy. Also, see the link below for what I hope are very helpful instructions about how to plant a tree or shrub. Here is a link that might be useful: Planting a Tree or Shrub...See MoreBest way to handle potbound roots?
Comments (2)DO NOT CUT THE ROOTS .. any more than necessary ... hosta store energy from July on .. so as to pop out of the ground in spring ... they come up on stored energy .. and if you cut off the stored energy .. well i am sure you see the issue ... i have had a lot of trouble with peat based potting soil .. in my pure sand ... ergo .. i would tend to recommend blasting it all off with the hose ... just about as hard a blast as you can do ... just short of blasting off the roots ... beat it on a tree if you want to get it all off ... HOWEVER .... when my garden was a good sandy loam .. with lots of loam/compost ... i would just shake them out of the pot.. and stick them in the ground ... period.. never had a problem ... the problem is that my sand wicks all the water out of the peat .. and i can never re-wet it in the ground ... but the BOTTOM LINE... as always is this.. THEY ARE HOSTA ... stick them in the ground.. water them .. and walk away .. NEVER over think your hosta. .. dig hole.. remove from pot.. insert in ground.. try to drown them .. and be happy .... good luck ken PS: i am sure in 3 days ... someone will ask me to repeat this.. lol ... forget about tape and all that .. they will be dormant in a month ... protect them from heave .. which is in another recent post.. who is supposed to link that.. so i dont have to type it all again .. bunny????...See MorePot up or repot root-bound Ficus lyrata (fiddle leaf fig)?
Comments (4)Agree. Too, just because you have roots growing out of the drain hole isn't proof that the plant is root bound. Roots are opportunistic and only grow where conditions are favorable. That hollow space under the pot probably supplies much more air/oxygen than the lower reaches of the soil in the pot. Since the conditions are favorable there, that's where they grow. Your plant isn't rootbound unless you can lift the entire root/soil mass out of the pot intact. There is no rush to repot your plant. It would fare much better if you wait until the summer solstice if you're more than 25* N or S latitude. If you're closer to the equator than that, it doesn't much matter when you repot. Al...See Moremxk3 z5b_MI
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12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agoBumblebeez SC Zone 7
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12 years agoWendyB 5A/MA
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11 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
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