repotting new plants

I just received some vey nice plants from Logee's. They are in 2.5 inch containers. The instructions say to repot into the next larger container, 4 inches. Some of these plants will be large container plants (Bouganvillea, Aglaia odorato, Pelargonium, etc). Why would I not pot them into their final containers? It seems logical to me to repot into the final pot.

I used to think the same thing. However it does not work well. When I get small plant like that if they have roots that totally fill the pot then I would go with a 6" perhaps. The reason you don't want to use a really large pot is that they will sometimes rot as there is too much damp soil below the roots. I learned about that the hard way. I lost a lot of plants that way. I think its really important now when its cold and damp, by this spring you should be able to pot them up into their final containers. I get so excited when I get that catalog from Logee's, those pictures...
Rebeccanne

Another thought about repotting into too large a pot, the plant will then put more effort and energy into growing roots to fill that larger pot, leaving much less effor/energy for growing the leaves, flowers, etc.