Pot Bound Plants

Pot bound plants are unable to grow and flourish as they should. They will be poor specimens, a pale stunted shadow of their true selves.

A plant will become pot bound if it is not re-potted as it grows. The roots become compressed in one mass, in a pot or container, with no room left for any further growth.

If the roots can no longer grow the plant will suffer, top growth will cease, leaves and flowers will look pale and washed out and the plant may even start to wilt, shed it's flowers and maybe even it's leaves.

You will be unable to water plants if they are pot bound.

Roots in pot bound plants will find it extremely difficult to absorb water and nutrients, giving rise to the symptoms and problems as described above.

Watering will be difficult as there will be little or no compost in the pot or container to hold any moisture. So, as the plant is watered, the water will just drain straight through leaving none for the plant to absorb.

To avoid pot bound plants it is essential to re-pot plants to a bigger size pot or container. Using fresh compost when re-potting will give the roots more room to grow and expand. It will also provide, for a short time, nutrients that the roots can absorb.

It is fairly easy to tell when a plant is pot bound with pots and containers that can easily be lifted. If roots start to appear through the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot or container there is a good chance that the plant needs re-potting.

Just knock the plant out of the pot or container and if there is a mass of roots, with little compost left, then the plant needs re-potting.

But with larger pots and containers, that are heavier and difficult to lift, it is not quite so easy to tell if you have a pot bound plant. This is when it is a good idea to consult your notes of when the plant was last re-potted.

What's that, you don't keep notes? It's always worth keeping notes of your propagating activities. Basic notes will do, plant name, date potted, date re-potted. So, make a start with keeping notes, now.

Plants normally need re-potting at least once in a growing season. This depends on the plant type.

So, after consulting your notes, you can tell when the plant was last re-potted and if it needs to be re-potted now.

If you don't know when your plant was last re-potted a good indication that a plant needs to be re-potted is if it looks a bit, 'lack lustre', or is starting to wilt.

A very good and fail safe way of telling if a plant needs re-potting is if water just pours out through the drainage holes in the bottom when the plant is watered from above. If this happens, you have a pot bound plant, so get re-potting.

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