Seeking Advice after repotting in Gritty

7 years ago

Hi, I'm reposting this ( never heard back from Al but it may have got lost at the bottom of another's feed) but hopeful This could help...So I live in Houston Texas- which means relentless rain showers between times of sunny humid conditions. One question I have is if I could slowly move these FLF's out from under the patio (where they get direct sun now after about 3 or 4 pm on) to get direct sun so they can grow faster this summer- not sure if July & August Texas heat will be too much for them though regardless?

So so here is why I am so glad you are helping me:) I bare rooted and reported in gritty mix these two plants 3 days ago ( NOTE it is now one week later and they look a tad worse and have yellowing leaves starting to drop)

Prior they were together in a pot similar to this other I bought below at same time ( just more leafy and leaves had appeared to have had more stressors prior to me owning as you can see but dead spots on leaves)

I'm concerned about the leaf drooping and admit I'm having a hard time staking/ tying these plants in the gritty ( hints them also being propped by chairs) but the reported plants are in the exact same place they were prior to repotting. Day 2 I noticed the dropping and thought maybe it was just over watered from the repot process but today I'm thinking the opposite that maybe it is droopy from the gritty mix drying so fast and me not being use to needing to water with this soil? ( I soaked the mix for 30 min prior to repot) I read droopy leaves after repot are usually from roots drying out but I don't think that could be possible( I repotted by a water hose in wet grass in between rainstorms- roots DID get 'man handled' a lot from me ensuring all soil was removed with light jet spray of water hose and me untangling ( not sure how to avoid that) but made sure to hose them down every 3-5 min and in beteen they were setting on/ in my wet overgrown lawn in air of 99%humidity out of any wind so I don't think there was any evaporation occurring at a justifiable rate ) So Curious if this is from my ameteur root pruning vs them and I getting accustomed to the gritty mix watering vs normal when it can't immobilize in the soil or Normal the first few days period?

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Comments (5)

Elissa Norris
Original Author
7 years ago
Fiddle 1 - I didn't think to take pictures prior to my pruning but I primarily sliced off the tap root and these side roots that were wrapping around one another and I 'considered' to be the type you had mentioned can cut off one another?
What the entire root mass I left looked like ( probably 1/3 of the entangled mass of fine roots came off with the roots I removed)( BTW Fiddle 1's roots above is the far right FLF in first picture)

here is FIddle 2-( the left FLF in first picture) next two pics are prior to any pruning that was just entangled with other FLF in pot not sharing any roots
Pic above is what look like just from trimming the large bottom tap root and fine root ball connected being removed (kinda just politely tore the ball away from entire knotted mass?)then I choose a few more I thought were the J hooked type of roots and removed one long root that looked very "woody" I assumed meant dead and looked like below
( note you can see even this second fiddle to repot was staying very wet )
other side here- this is how I left it- still another bottom shooter and a few roots on the other side looking maybe j hooked but I felt this guy had already lost about 1/2 to maybe 2/3 of the fine roots and was afraid to prune any more given my lack of any experience here
fine roots looked pretty skimpy compared to before- went in out like this.

Didnt water again again after flushing thru new pot a few times day 1pm ( attempt to get soil to settle in and air pockets out?) untill day day 3 but it had rained non stop since repotting so air was 98-100%humid since/ with light rain likely hit plant and soil being its 2 ft from patio edge but soil seemed very dry this am though maybe not yet a good judge as gritty feels very dry being new to it regardless. Other pots soil sitting right next to these were still very damp even at surface having gotten same chance of rain watering and no manual watering in same time frame. Day 4 they hadn't perked up yet (read your advice to another to wait 2 wks to fertilize for roots to do their thing first correct??) but I went ahead and gave them one dose of super thrive that day as I wasn't hearing back from anyone here...So anyhow just tell me like it is on why poor fiddles are dropping and what I did right and wrong... I am here to learn and as much as I would love these 2 $9 fig plants to grow into 4 beautiful trees I am starting at this level here to take the chances and try to learn how to give plants their best life vs feeling terrified to touch a beautiful 8 ft trees soil or pot year after year...
bragu_DSM 5
7 years ago
you may have too few roots for so many leaves ...
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Dave
7 years ago
I'll read through the whole thing and give you my thoughts later.

as far as root pruning, personally, I only do it unless it has to be done. If they can be mostly untangled and I'm going into a pot large enough for them, I don't remove any.

Did you remove almost 2/3 of the roots because you were trying to stuff them in smaller pots? Sure trees can handle that, but you'd probably want to remove just as many leaves too.
Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
7 years ago
Did I read correctly that these plants were getting late afternoon sun?
Elissa Norris
Original Author
7 years ago
I removed that amount based on advice read on these forums... Honestly I only cut 2-3 roots per tree ( much less that 2/3) but it took a good portion of the fine roots ( about 2/3)... Yes they are currently getting later afternoon sun. I had them out of the sun in a dark sheltered corner of my patio the first 2 days but they looked so bad I moved them into the spot they were in prior to planting - since fiddle 2 has perked up a bit with just one or two leaves having a little yellowing but other leaves have perked up. Fiddle 1 who looked worse right afterwards ( yet the first one repotted so roots exposed for half the time fiddle 2's were) and fiddle one has since lost 3 leaves and all other leaves are completely droopy and with yellow veining and discoloration. At this point I just hope it makes it I'm fine if it needs to loose leaves ( I helped 2 of the saddest lower ones off) but thought keeping the leaves on the plant if they looked semi green would be needed to provide energy for new roots correct?) should I fertilize at this point - or should I not fertilize untill they look healthy and vibrant regardless of timeframe? I did water with a root stimulator on probably day 5ish - maybe it's what helped fiddle 2 perk up soon after? I'm having a hard time figuring Out this gritty watering schedule... sounds like most find the need to have to water every 1-2 days( some saying twice a day in summer) but my mix still feels very damp two inches down even day 3 days later though top is very dry... Is that possible with the humidity being 99% due to sporadic showers daily even with temps in the 90's i screened everything well other than some of the bark is a bit larger as needed to use a little reptibark. Thank y'all for giving advice I've felt helpless trying to help/ let them be, etc