Root bound plants

Watch Reply
More
Mark unread Print Skip to new
prairiefire Ord, NE May 05, 2007

I made the mistake of buying plants without checking the root balls. Needless to say, I discovered several that were quite root bound. I read somewhere that one can "amputate" the end of the ball and make vertical slits along the sides of the root ball and then go ahead and transplant. How do you all handle this? I thought that early in the spring this wouldn't be a problem. Additionally, as a cheapskate, I tend to swoop into our local garden centers in late June-July when they are clearing out their stocks and I know that those plants will be root bound - but the price is usually right.

Prairiefire

Post #3465210
Quote
ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) May 05, 2007

If you can manually disentangle the encircling roots a bit, I would try that first, but if it's so bad that the roots are totally wedged together, then I usually do the vertical slits along the sides. If you end up having to do significant damage to the rootball while doing this, I would probably cut back a little bit of the top growth too, otherwise the poor plant will be constantly wilting and need extra babying.

Post #3465262
Quote

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
Back to Forum Homepage

More Beginner Gardening Threads

Go to all Beginner Gardening threads
BACK TO TOP