Um, tuned in.

There seems to be a lack of interest. I will post later today :)

This myth gets spread much more often and enthusiastically than the more logical, scientific explanations. There's definitely an interest. Especially for Sansevierias, (snake plants,) which get this unfortunate myth
attached so often. "Won't bloom until pot bound." I repot these 2x
per year & know it's not true.

Becoming pot-bound often coincides with maturity, and mistakenly gets the credit when blooms show up. Having very little soil in a pot enables those who think plants are always thirsty to water often w/o rotting roots when using peaty potting soil, and can be the only way for roots to get some oxygen in very finely-particled soils. When plants manage to stay alive longer, pot bound gets the credit again, instead of the small volume of soil drying quickly enough to not rot roots.

Whenever a plant of mine starts to look poorly, I almost always discover a pancake of roots at the bottom of the pot, or the soil has degraded/decomposed into mud, tiny particles. It's not a condition that produces good results (for my opinion) on any plants I have.

But, if folks want to use those kinds of soils, using a very small volume of it can be a coping mechanism to combat "overwatering." Just depends on each person's interest level, style of care, budget/available alternatives if interested, so many things.

Tiffany hit the target there. Yes this myth is also widely believed with spider plants. You can grow a tiny Echeveria in a 30 gallon container if the plant dries out in between watering. Think about it: in nature plants are not usually bound to a container, there roots spread wide and free, in search if water and nutrient. Rather than make your plants health suffer to prevent over watering, most plants would do better in a gritty mix. Blubs also brought up a good point, flowers often shows a plant is stressed, not happy! Stay tuned for myth #2, brought to you by the Rhamel channel, good night from your host Rhamel, and thanks to our correspondents Tiffany,lauticauda and Christine!

Do you know who taught me about plants freaking out because they know they are going to die so they flower in hopes of keeping the lineage alive should better circumstances arrive?

Lettuce.

Also, re: spider plants

I put one in a bottomless planter that's about 10 inches tall and 2.5 inches at the widest. It's a regular green, but I got it sometime in April or May and it's already making a baby.

this thing is definitely not root bound lol.

Is that growing in a Gatorade bottle?

The 'pot bound to flower' myth is practically out there for every plant. For me peace lillies, aeschynanthus, and defently Spiders all come to mind. And that information saying to keep slightly pot bound to increase bloom yield is basically everywhere. I bet if I hadn't joined this site I'd believe it.

Tillandsias also bloom when they're in stress too. Isn't they're some type of 'method' out there that tells you to put plants in stressful situations to make them bloom?

Who'd go through all that trouble to make their plant flower when if they cared for it properly it'd be a healthier happier plant and would also bloom?

Strange world.

Sorry blubs, meant to mention you as a correspondent

Oh Ha, that's okay!

It's a juice bottle, but a Gatorade bottle would probably be better, especially one of the really wide, short ones.

but I use regular soda bottles too. The concept is the same, an open bottom.

I put a cone of landscape cloth in the mouth and poke holes around the sides of the container to get proper drainage. The bottle is oddly shaped though, so I really have to submerge the whole thing and let it soak to get it watered properly, but then it can go quite some time before needing water again.

I think telling people their plant likes being slightly pot bound prevents them from potting plants up in a way too big container filled with wrong soil (+overwatering = death). This way plants can survive for years and mature and produce flowers.

You can read this almost everywhere if you open a book about houseplants. Just like repotting in spring is recommended. (Myth #2?)

i just read an article about christmas cactuses and it said to have them root bound to make it bloom but thanks for info

I saw one that said just put the christmas/thanksgiving cactus in a closet for a week and it'll bloom when you take it out. Oh gosh.

This topic sounds familiar.

No plant prefers (grows better/healthier under) the stress inherent in root congestion.

Some growers prefer to use the stress associated with tight roots as a tool to force the plant to react in predictable ways the grower finds desirable (more blooms, smaller leaves, shorter internodes ...... ).

The advice that some plants do like root-bound conditions is born of assumption and a lack of understanding. First, you must assume the grower is using a soil that makes over-potting a serious concern to suggest growers accept the limitations of root congestion rather than the more severe consequences of the limitations that accompany over-potting. Then, any grower who understands the reason for concern about over-potting is pivotal on how much water the soil contains would automatically offer qualification or clarification re the advice given. As a blanket statement, the advice that any plant performs better when root bound cannot be supported. The first thing a person giving the advice does after being challenged is start qualifying what he/she said, which rightly should have been done when the advice was offered, and not as a justifying afterthought.

Al

I wonder if the proof in all this could be seen in peace lilies, as mr. blubs mentioned. I potted mine up in a coarse soil mix after being very root bound in the nursery pot, kept it in an east window, and it hasn't bloomed since. I thought something was wrong. BUT the number of new leaves and size it has put on is pretty impressive. I don't know for sure if peace lilies blooming are the litmus test for all this, just speculating.

Personally, I'm not much of a flower person--I prefer big, healthy foliage any day.

Hi, J - In nature, plants and trees happily bloom each growth cycle once their life stage has reached sexual maturity, yet Mother Nature does nothing to see their roots are tightly confined, which sort of illustrates that tight roots aren't a prerequisite to a plant doing what it needs to do to make sure its genes are part of the gene pool. The stress of tight roots, even when intentionally employed to increase the number of blooms a plant produces is only a marginal aid at best, so if your plant isn't blooming as expected, it's a pretty sure bet the cause is something other than a lack of root congestion.

Al

Hmm. Now you've got me curious as to what the issue could be. Interesting article on peace lilies and flowering. In essence, all those blooms you see when you first buy the plant?

They're just cheating. : ) Gibberellic acid.

http://www.ourhouseplants.com/plants/peacelily

They cheat in lots of ways.

I got some untreated starts this summer, so I'm pretty excited about that. Just moved a 3 and 4" clay into a 6" plastic. The watering was getting a little out of hand. Hopefully, I don't kill them now. Sometimes care after repottng is the hardest part!

If being potbound guaranteed blooms, it would be well known what size pot caused each plant to bloom. There would be charts & graphs... Pots would be sold with the names of the plants they cause to bloom.