Our Generation Florida

Pot Bound

By Ginny Stibolt

Have you ever ended up with a pot bound plant?  If so, it probably didn’t live very long.  How can you increase the chances of survival?

For one thing, you can try to avoid the situation by purchasing your plants from reputable nurseries.  You can usually tell if a plant is pot bound because its roots will be growing out through the drainage holes.  For an annual, it’s not a big deal, but for a woody plant, a tree or shrub, it’s a bigger investment, so pay attention.  But sometimes the price is right…

The worst treatment for a pot bound plant is to just plop it into a planting hole.  The plant is already under a lot of strain and it can’t untangle its own roots, so you have to help it out.  The first step is to remove the soil by running water over the root ball.  Gently tease out the roots and spread them out.  If a woody plant has thick roots circling around the inside of the pot, untangling the roots may not be possible.  In this case, cut three or four vertical slices into the root ball to stimulate the roots’ growth outwards.

Place your plant in a wide hole that is only deep enough so the plant will not be lower in the garden or container than it was in its original pot.  After such rough treatment, the root hairs will have been stripped away making it much harder for the plant to absorb water.  You’ll need to irrigate extensively during planting and afterwards.

For annuals or herbaceous perennials:
Add some good compost and topsoil in and around the planting hole and then mulch it, but don’t let the mulch touch the plant’s stem.  Extra irrigation for a week or two should be enough time to allow recovery, but watch the plant for wilting.

For trees or shrubs:
Don’t put any amendments in the planting hole; it’s been shown that this inhibits outward root growth.  Create a saucer the same diameter as the root ball with soil to catch and retain water.  Mulch, but don’t let the mulch touch the trunk.  Depending on the species and the size of the tree, extra watering (over and above general irrigation) will be needed for 4 to 6 weeks and also during dry periods for a year or two.  After about three months, treat the soil with a generous dressing of compost at and beyond the drip line where you want to encourage new root growth.

Resources:
University of Florida professor of horticulture, Ed Gilman’s website has detailed information on planting and other care of woody plants: http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody.

Contact Ginny on her website:  www.transplantedgardener.com.