Do I need to repot?
super_kitty_cat
8 years ago
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arthurm2015
8 years agoMichelle
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Did I make a mistake? (Do I need to repot?)
Comments (9)There are upright and prostrate forms of P afra, and only the upright lends itself willingly to the formation of a heavy trunk. If you don't have the upright form, remind me come May, and I'll make sure you get started cuttings if you'd like them. Determining whether a soil is good or bad depends on what you're contrasting them with. MG isn't so bad when compared to all the other commercially prepared soils as a group, and that are commonly available and used for houseplants; but, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being perfect and 1 being almost unusable, I'd rate it at about a 3-4 - LOTS of room for improvement. When you think of potting soils and what to use as your base, think of larger particles, like pine bark or other inorganic particles much larger than peat particles. In your mind's eye, picture a soil made of particles the size of BBs, and see all the healthy air spaces between the BBs. No matter how much water you pour on the soil, those air spaces won't fill with water. Now imagine a soil based on peat, compost, topsoil, sand ..... The air spaces between particles are very small and tend to fill up with water when you water - like you said the peat your plants are in does. If you mix the peat and BBs 50/50, the peat just fills in around the BBs, robbing the BBs of their air space, so a soil that has mostly larger particles and very few fine particles so the air spaces stay open is going to be much healthier for roots than a soil with all the little air pores filled with water. The primary difference between these two types of soils is that because the more open soils hold less water, you need to water more frequently. You'll need to decide if the extra effort is worth greater promise for your plants to grow to the potential they were genetically programmed for. There are 2 sides to that coin. Some feel the soils that I and many others grow in hold too little water, and robs them of the convenience of longer intervals between waterings, but since we build these soils with the plant's well being in mind, I know without doubt that soils that offer extended intervals between waterings hold too much water to NOT be limiting in their effect on growth and vitality. One of the most important considerations is that well-aerated and fast-draining soils are far more forgiving and much easier to grow in. They forgive your watering mistakes readily, as long as you don't FORGET to water, and make fertilizing easy. Because they promote such healthy root systems, they have the potential to produce much healthier plants with robust metabolisms that make the plant better able to resist insects and diseases. I'll leave you a link below to some information that explains the soil/water relationship. An understanding of the concept it defines almost automatically puts you far ahead of other container gardeners as a group. It shouldn't be too difficult to see what other growers that have read and applied it think. There are other threads similar to that one about other aspects of container culture, like nutritional supplementation, when/if you're ready to move on ..... or you can just not respond & I'll take that as a 'not interested'. The comments I left on YM's thread today might also be of interest. What my houseplant's feet are in: Al Here is a link that might be useful: I'd like to see you put this in your tool box!...See MoreDo I need to repot my rooted roses?
Comments (8)Thanks guys! I got a new light setup for these that is a 2 light 4 ft. t8 shop light with 6500K Bulbs. They are doing GREAT under the lights. I re potted the larger one, and I will probably re pot some more as soon as I get time :) Awesomely... The one I re potted (with all of the roots in the photo) is my favorite. It is growing the best! It is a very pretty miniature that I got from a rose garden during the summer. The blooms are a mixture of bright orange and yellow petals. Very excited to see it bloom again! remy101, I do the following to root my roses: I like to take the cutting from a branch that has had a bloom that has finished blooming. I cut it so that I will have 2 sections of leaves, then I cut the spent bloom off the top. I put the cutting immediately into water while I get more cuttings, prepare the soil, etc. I like to use few drops of a product called "Super Thrive" in the water I soak it in, and in the water for the dirt. I use miracle grow potting soil in a small container. I get it wet, but not so much that it will be sitting in a puddle. I make a hole in the dirt with a pencil. I take the rose out of the water, and make a few shallow cuts at the base, then I dip it in Schultz TakeRoot powdered rooting hormone, and stick it in the hole in the dirt. I put the little pot of dirt and rose into a zip lock bag (I like the 2 gallon ones) then I zip it most of the way up, and blow air into it to create a mini greenhouse. I put it in a window that does not get direct sun. In my case, a north facing window. I don't touch it for at least 2 weeks, then I lightly pull on the stem to see if it has rooted. If the stem turns black, it is dead. If it grows mold, it needs to be cleaned off immediately or thrown away so that it doesn't effect the other cuttings. If you are successful, in 2-4 weeks new leafs will start to grow. If you used clear cups for the dirt, you will start to see white roots in the soil. I adapted my method from this video I watched when I first started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiL83eUKWY8 This post was edited by gr8heather on Wed, Jan 23, 13 at 1:50...See MoreFicus elastica help--do i need to repot?
Comments (9)Once you truncate the main stem, it can't extend and it won't grow any more leaves. What it WILL do is grow new branches from the axils (crotches) of some of the existing leaves. The greatest certainty of that happening is from the axils of leaves and possibly from immediately above any leaf (bundle) scars immediately below your pruning cut/pinch. You can train any new branch that occurs to grow vertically so it takes the place of the one you removed (becomes the new leader). If you really want your plant to have a sturdier trunk, you should do more than pinch it. A 1/2" trunk that is 30" long won't bend nearly as much as a 1/2" trunk that's 60" long, so shortening it by half is actually what I'd do. If you don't want to shorten it that much, you should move right into a pinching program so as to avoid any branches becoming too long and exerting a lot of leverage that tends to make the trunk want to lay over. Allow any given branch to grow to 3 or 4 mature leaves, then prune it back to 2 leaves. You can practice pinching at any time of the year, as long as the tree is healthy. Habitually pinching all extending branches back to 2 leaves maximizes ramification (# of leaves and branches) and makes your tree as full as it can be. Also, the rate at which branches and trunks thicken is directly proportional to the amount of leaf (photosynthesizing) surface on the tree, so regular pinching helps (a lot) to keep trunks strong enough to support the foliage. Root congestion limits growth, and particularly extension of the main stem and branches. It also causes the plant to lose it's older leaves. In severe cases of root congestion, the plant might only have 2 or 3 leaves way out at the growing tips of branches, and the plant becomes very reluctant to back-bud. Don't wait to repot until the plant is in severe decline. If the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, your plant will benefit from repotting. Potting up doesn't relieve the limitations imposed by root congestion, though it can allow the plant to briefly grow a little closer to its genetic potential. Still, potting up is better than confining it to a pot too small. Al...See MoreDo I need to repot this parlor palm?
Comments (1)I'm surprised it looks that good with drainage holes in the pot. Most likely the soil has built up a lot of mineral salts, unless it was always watered with rain water. I'd go with repotting it in something with drainage holes but not much bigger....See Morejane__ny
8 years agosuper_kitty_cat
8 years agoBill
8 years ago
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