{"id":10559,"date":"2017-02-23T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10559"},"modified":"2017-02-23T09:09:33","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T09:09:33","slug":"potbound-problems-and-cures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/potbound-problems-and-cures\/","title":{"rendered":"Potbound Problems and Cures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"The root of the problem Project 365(2) Day 111 by Keith Williamson, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/elwillo\/4634196989\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4035\/4634196989_c1775804d5.jpg\" alt=\"The root of the problem Project 365(2) Day 111\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>What is a Potbound Plant<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A plant that has been in a pot or container long enough to fill the pot with roots can be said to be potbound.<\/li>\n<li>Roots often twist around the outer edge of the pot and form a knotty clump of roots.<\/li>\n<li>The roots may be so tight that a plastic pot bulges and has to be cut away with secateurs to get the plant out.<\/li>\n<li>A terracotta pot that has become pot bound may need to be broken to access the plant.<\/li>\n<li>Houseplants that can&#8217;t take up water, have roots coming out of drainage holes and a hard impenetrable surface are likely to be pot bound<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Problems Caused by being Potbound<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The compost and nutrient is all consumed and used up.<\/li>\n<li>It is almost impossible to water and get the centre of the root ball damp. The roots may be trapped in dry compost<\/li>\n<li>Top growth and general health will be restricted where a plant suffers from being potbound.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Cures for Potbound Problems<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>You can surgically remove some of the twisted roots on many potbound plants including shrubs and herbaceous plants.<\/li>\n<li>One third of the roots can be removed comfortably. The old thick, brown and damaged roots should go first.<\/li>\n<li>Aim to create space for new roots to develop.<\/li>\n<li>Fleshy rooted plants and those that dislike root disturbance such as Alstroemeria and Peonies should have their roots left whole.<\/li>\n<li>Open up roots by gently tweaking the edges and shaking out some compost to open up the root ball.<\/li>\n<li>Allow the root ball to soak for at least an hour<\/li>\n<li>If planting out dig a large hole and lay the tweaked out roots as widely as possible. Do not leave the root as a ball or the they will never spread into the surrounding ground as you intend.<\/li>\n<li>If repotting your plant shake off as much old compost as possible, plant in a larger container and do not leave it too long to repot in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Opposite of Potbound<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Some garden centres put plants in larger pots for sale so they can charge more for them.<\/li>\n<li>Without time for the plant to develop roots in the new pot it may be immature and quite unsuitable.<\/li>\n<li>This may mean the ball of compost falls away when you get the plant ready for its new home. I think this is just sharp practice.<\/li>\n<li>Over potting is putting a plant in a pot far too large. At the most use a pot that is double the size of the existing pot for even distribution of nutrient and moisture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Attribution &#8216;The root of the problem Project 365(2) Day 111&#8217; by Keith Williamson, on Flickr Creative Commons License Deed Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"roots by billy liar, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/billy_liar\/4571327132\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4031\/4571327132_a29bfa78c5.jpg\" alt=\"roots\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em><strong>Roots<\/strong> by billy liar, on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a Potbound Plant A plant that has been in a pot or container long enough to fill the pot with roots can be said to be potbound. Roots often twist around the outer edge of the pot and form a knotty clump of roots. The roots may be so tight that a plastic pot bulges and has to be cut away with secateurs to get the plant out. A terracotta pot that has become pot bound may need&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/potbound-problems-and-cures\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}