q for anyone who bought JJ @ Lowes this yr

11 years ago

Those of you who bought this year likely noticed that the square brown pots are tiny... much smaller than what they used last year.

Last year I left my purchase in the original pot for the entire season. When I repotted I found a good root system but it was not root-bound by any stretch.

However I am worried about the small size of this years pots. They dry out daily and I'm wondering if the pot is already mostly roots. OTOH these are young cuttings in the scheme of things (grower potted them up in early spring) so I'm wondering if I'll do more harm than good by bare rooting them this soon to repot in gritty mix.

Would appreciate knowing what you did with yours and how they are doing.

Brian

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Comments (9)

moonie_57 (8 NC)
11 years ago
Why don't you turn the pot up and try to slip the plant out to inspect the root system? Just seeing what the roots look like will give you a better feel on what you might want to do.
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
11 years ago
Brian. I picked up a thumbalina while in Tampa. Im going to leave mine as is until next year. You may know this but we had some JJ's here locally in round 1 gallon pots that are the same size as the ones in the square pots. Long story short a couple of the ones I got here had almost no roots and im having to baby them a bit. As hard I a worked to find thumbalina there(hit 5 stores) I don't want to risk it. Im sure it wouldn't hurt to slip it out carefully and look.

Mike
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sflgplume
11 years ago
Hey Brian,

You know, I HATE that **** that this grower uses--it's so insubstantial that it provides little support for the plant. It seems like every year, by the time I get the plants home from the Lowe's, they've toppled over and what little rootball they had has been torn off. It's ok for ones like that "light rainbow" with the thin branches, but for a chunky cultivar like Thumbalina it just doesn't work--I repotted mine in the gritty as soon as I got it home (since it was already lying down) and it's going gangbusters, and that was only about five weeks ago. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Like Mike, mine had almost no roots when I first potted it up. But I think that's ok, because you probably want as little of that old potting medium as possible in with your gritty.

The light rainbow held on to its inflo (YES!--glad I'll get to see what the flower looks like) and I've left it be for now...and I'm watering it like 3x/day LOL (But then again, I'm also watering my trees that are in the gritty 2x/day. Plumies are thirsty plants, especially in this heat.)

I also stopped by the Pompano Beach store b/c I was in the area--I couldn't help myself--and walked out with a Delightful. I was psyched to find it! Like I have room for another stick-tree...but for $20, how could I possibly pass?!

Greg
Minderella
11 years ago
I bought one in the square pots and it seems to dry out faster than my other ones I put in pots. Thumbalina is the one I got too, it is the one with the inflo in my pics.
jandey1
11 years ago
Brian, I confess to repotting barely-rooted cuttings in mid-summer here in Texas. Even if most of the roots come off in the process they always bounce back; never lost one yet. I think if you use some Superthrive and let it transition in part shade you should be fine.

Uh, Greg, I believe you want to be on the "Confess Your Plumie Sins" thread. ;) Wow, you are kind to your plumies! Mine get water 3x a week, even those in the gritty mix. (Probably why yours bloom so nicely for you and mine don't.)
sflgplume
11 years ago
Jen: touche, once again! ;-)

Regarding my watering, it's not kindness, but necessity. I water them early every morning, and if I don't water again by around 5:00, many of those that I have planted in the gritty will be drooping. It is absolutely unbelievable to me how much H2O my trees are taking.

I had been thinking of starting a thread about it, actually, because I'm wondering what the deal is. Am I doing something wrong? LOL

Greg
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
11 years ago
Greg

I was having the same problems with my citrus in the gritty in our 100+ degree days Im slowly getting away from it for a more moisture holding mix. Ive been using Farfards 52 on a couple of my citrus and plumeria and it seems to be doing great. The trade off will be watching my watering closer in the winter but even still this last winter I had a problem with the gritty getting hydrophobic and not holding water at all. Have you dug into the soil to see if maybe its got some hydrophobic issues. I can solve mine by submerging the whole pot for about 20 minutes.

Mike
irun5k
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi everyone... thanks. I think I've decided to repot. The fact that both pots blew over again today helped make the decision. Greg you are right, the pots they used this year are not good at all. Much worse that last years.

Also- Greg- I altered my gritty mix based on what Laura mentioned a while back. I made the 4:3:2 mix... that is 4 parts turface, 3 parts bark, 2 parts granite. This ratio seems to hold a good amount of water w/o being a soupy mess or anything like that.

Brian
jandey1
11 years ago
Greg, that's strange that yours are drooping so quickly. You know how hot it is here and mine don't dry out nearly so fast. And the Turface supposedly holds some water in reserve for the roots. Hm.

I do find certain seedlings and certain cultivars (Wildfire, Lemon Drop, Dazzler, etc) want a lot more water than others but none of them need it daily to where their leaves droop.

q for anyone who bought JJ @ Lowes this yr

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moonie_57 (8 NC)

mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma

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q for anyone who bought JJ @ Lowes this yr

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