ROOTBOUND Karley Rose Fountain Grass

I am fairly new to gardening. When I took a newly purchased Fountain Grass Karley Rose out of the pot it looked like what I think they call “root bound”. I separated the roots as best I could, planted it in good soil, and watered it well.

My friend told me I should have left it alone and planted it like it was when it came out of the pot because “Too much scarification can kill a plant.”

See the attached pictures. 001 is how it looked when it came out of the pot, 002 is how it looked when I sprayed the surface with water, and 003 is how it looked after I tried to untangle the roots.

What advice do you have on how I might have handled it differently.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

You did just fine. It was rootbound. If you plant it rootbound like that it will struggle and even die. It definitely won't flourish.

You did good in that you got all the circular stuff straightened out. That is essential.

One quick way to deal with the untangling is to just take your pruners or a knife and slash from the top to the bottom while digging in along the sides...slash slash slash slash and 4 seconds later you've forced the roots to not grow in a circular fashion. If it's a lot of fun or they still look really tangled, a few more slashes are in order.

In addition, if you see roots that are a lot bigger than the others, you can cut them off. They are not efficient at transmitting nutrients and water any more. It's the little roots that do the work. It all sounds brutal but really, you can hardly overdo it when a plant is rootbound.

Anyway, your plant will grow better because of what you did.

I actually would have gone beyond what you did and took several more inches off the bottom of the root mass. Vigor is a genetic trait, and the most vigorous part of the plant is in the ontogenetically (as opposed to chronologically) young, juvenile tissues at the root to shoot transition zone. The term 'rejuvenation' pruning comes from the fact you're pruning back closer to the more juvenile tissues in that zone, which is why rejuvenation pruning rejuvenates the plant.

When I put my mixed plantings together in the spring, I'll take plants in cell packs or 3-4" pots and unceremoniously rip the bottom half of the roots off, then run my fingers up into the middle of the root mass & flare roots outward before potting. After potting, I pack the ripped off roots around the base of the plants where they serve as a mulch of sorts - no sense in wasting. This method causes plants to establish in the new planting MUCH faster than if the roots would have made the trip unmolested.

There's more to the story that involves the plant's chemical messengers that signal the plant to concentrate on repairing the damaged roots and what that does for the plant in the immediate future, but basically, you were right & your friend should be watching you instead of acting as director. ;-)

Al

Hi Los Altos - I live in Huntington Beach. I brought home two root bound purple fountain grass and essentially did what you did, except I wasn't worried about it. I just pulled the circling roots out of their place, cut some back and shook out a lot of the soil, then stuck 'em in their pots and now they're going nuts. I also deadhead my fountain grasses - when the purple fuzzy parts turn beige I cut that stalk down to either the ground or as far as I can - depends on when I last cleaned out the mess at the bottom. The next day I get a bunch more purple fuzzy things coming out (l guess the fuzzy things are the blooms). Anyway I got it for the purple, not the beige, so purple it will be. I figure plants don't have brains, so they don't feel the pain. They do have DNA, tho, and that's what I have to cater to. I feel like a servant of the plants' genetic codes. Not a bad feeling, at all. Syb