Potbound

[zigs]

We've all seen it, a plant thats been in the pot for too long, roots going round and round the outside of the pot that take ages to tease out and are easily damaged.

Meantime theres all that compost in the middle that the plant has hardly used.

There's an easy solution, see thru pots.

When a root tip hits the outside of the pot, the light kills the tip, sending a chemical message back to the base that makes it send out more fiberous roots from the main root.

Result is the plant forms a rootmass within the previously ignored compost and when you repot it, it'll be ready to go

I've just made some pots out of some gallon water bottles from the supermarket, with the added bonus that the cut off top makes a mini cloche.

 

[CanadianLori]

Those bottles are what I used for the body of my solar water heater.

Sounds like a super idea for pots.

I don't use bottled water but may do it for the plants until I've emptied one for this purpose.

 

[zigs]

Be good if it works, doing a comparison with these tomatoes, i'll let them get potbound and see what happens.

I buy bottlled water as i'm not on the mains.

 

[marlingardener]

Zigs, I've used the bottom 2/3 of a two liter Pepsi bottle for up-potting. A few holes drilled in the bottom, and a pot that you don't grieve over if it doesn't come home when you give away a plant. It can also be turned upside down for a mini-greenhouse for rooting roses and such.
I do like the looks of yours--much more "professional." What do you use for the white edging around the pots?

 

[zigs]

Thems just Morrison's yogurt pots MG

 

[zigs]

Wasn't much difference with the small pots but here's an onion grown in a see thru pot.

None of the roots going round and round the bottom of the pot

And a good root structure using all of the available compost

 

[CanadianLori]

Good to know.

 

[Corzhens]

Our welcome plant is used as decor in our living room. They say we will be lucky if we place the welcome plant near the doorway. It is planted in a plastic pot. After 6 months or so, it is common to see so many sprouts and stems that it is easy to guess - the roots are occupying the entirety of the pot. What we usually do is to pull up the plant, cut it in 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 pieces and replant to plastic pots. So the 1 pot of welcome plant now becomes 4 pots.

 

[Trellum]

There is no problem with using plastic pots for edibles? I'm just asking because I am indeed curious, I'd like to try this method in the future, but a post I read a while ago makes me feel a bit hesitant. Any recommendations? I'm kinda afraid of plastic.

 

[claudine]

This sounds like a great method! When I bought my wild strawberry plants, it was really hard to transplant them, because there were so many roots going round and round the bottom of the pots.
My orchid grows in a transparent pot

 

[Pat]

Good information. I have a plant I need to remove from the pot, it is potbound.

 

[IcyBC]

My chocolate mint roots cracked through the pot and I need to do something with it soon. We are also going into winter and there are just many things going on at once currently, but I noticed the leaves are all dead now that pot can no longer hold water.