What Do you do??

When you get a trade of Bulbs (lets says canna's) or plants and you cant plant them right away? I got Canna's but I dont have the containers I want to put them in just yet.. Have to wait for payday. And the weather here has been nasty so I havent had time to plant the plants outside that I got in a trade. I have been keeping their roots wet but I am wondering if that is ok. What do you do when you get a trade & can't get right to it?
tamlamb

I just potted some cannas - I won't be able to plant things out for another month. Plant them in anything and then move them later on. You can cut off milk cartons, soda bottles, butter tubs or what ever you have for now and move them later.

I usually pot trades too until they recover from their trip through the mail. They seem to do much better with a little TLC before you plunk them into the garden to fend for themselves.

Butter bowls and ice cream containers are great for canna and elephant ears and anything larger. Yogurt cups and even veggie cans are great for smaller plants. :)

The cannas you buy have been out of the ground for some time, usually kept dry in some sort of moss. You should be able to keep them dry for at least a month. It will probably be better than keeping them wet, encouraging growth that will be disturbed. If you need to plant them, and you have any soil, just put them into something as mentioned above, but it isn't necessary to plant them right away. Shippers don't. I would stir in a little bulb food when planting to give them a boost. The rootstock actually has a supply of food that would get it started, but you can get it up and running and save its reserves with the bulb food. Be sure not to burn the root by direct contact with the food. And relax, you have wisely started out with bulbs, which are usually more flexible and easier to get good results. Provide good drainage, good light and adequate moisture and you should be rewarded with good plants and blooms.

I keep a bunch of potting soil and gallon plastic pots, those kind you buy small shrubs in, on hand just for this reason. I put the plants in those until I buy the pot I want to put them in permanently or get time to put them in the ground. You might could get a few pots from your local nursery or golf course maintenance dept.

When something like that happens to me I do make a replica of a container using newspaper ( I may use a jar or a storage tin etc), I line up the inside of the container using 3 or 4 sheet of newspaper and make sure that it follow the shape of the container well , place a bit of soil inside then the plant and I secure it as if this will be the permanent "pot", if I need the container that served as a "moulding pot", I take the newspaper container off the mould, carefully and keep the newspaper pot with its new plant in a suitable plastic bag , make a couple of holes in the bottom of the plastic bag as draining holes; at the time that I have the dream POT, I put the plant with the newspaper casing into this pot, add the extra soil and ....voila !
The neswpaper will compost real soon and you do not disturb the roots anymore and your plant never had to suffer a set back.
cristina

This message was edited Sunday, Apr 7th 10:02 PM

Check your nursery and garden centers for their cast-off pots. They're often willing to let you scavenge to your heart's content :)