Potting On . Why ?

I am going to pot on my Cannas and Chillies plants this morning . The cannas don't half grow quick ! Now some years ago someone explained to me that potting plants on was like going up through the gears when driving a car. But what advantages does potting on have for a plant Why don't I just plant one seed in the centre of a 24" container and let it grow happily by itself ?

TIA

 

Hi Harry. There is a reason, and it all to do with watering. If you have a small plant in a small pot and overwater it - the plant will quickly use up, via transpiration, the water in the pot. If the same plant is in a very large pot and is overwatered then it will sit for a very long time in too much water and may suffer. Although a plant in the border is in an infinite sized pot, but it doesn't suffer because the excess moisture will be drawn away by its surroundings.

Having said that, I like to overpot - which goes against conventional wisdom. I am quite convinced that the larger the pot the larger the plant. I noticed this some time ago when I grew some Kochia from seed. I had lots of seedlings and I didn't have the time or space to optimise them all. I noticed that one Kochia in a large pot had grown to 4 feet, next to it was another plant in a medium sized pot that had grown to 2 feet, and next to it was another in a very small pot and it was less than 1 foot tall.

So if I want a large plant I put it pretty quickly into as large a pot as I can. As Cannas like to sit in saucers of water in the summer when they are growing strongly, I suspect its one plant that wouldn't mind being overpotted. But you do have to be aware of the watering dilemma.

 

With tomatoes and chillies Harry, I think it's important to pot on. If you take a small plant and stick it in a big pot it will think it's on its holidays and just keep growing but not come into flower.
To get your chillies into flower more quickly pot on into a 5" pot and leave there until you can see the roots at the bottom and the flower buds forming then pot into there final pot. Same for tomatoes.
And as PeterS says, there is also the watering issue.

 

Hi folks.

A funny thing, as I find with Fuschias the opposite is the case. That is to say, if I were to pot them from say a rooted cutting straight into their final position (a hanging basket for instance), then I find they just stop. They SEEM to like being a bit pot-bound before being potted on. It's probably something I'm doing wrong, but that's what I find.

Cheers...Freddy.

 

The way I've always looked at it is that in a pot, you only have a certain amount of root room.
So it makes sense to get the plant to use up all available root space before giving it more.
All plants have different modes of growth, but generally speaking the roots go down till they hit the bottom of the pot. So if you just use a large size from day one lots of the compost in a pot will not contain roots.

That I think applies to plants that will be grown in containers, plants that will eventually be planted out are slightly different, and probably only need the one pot on at the most.

 

I agree. Straight into large pot risks rotting through wet compost because the plant can't "drink" all the moisture available.

Also, it sends its roots out to the edge of the pot, so the centre is under-developed - whereas a potted-on plant fills each pot size, so in the final pot the root-ball is well developed, and completely fills the container.

 

Give me land, lots of land!

.

I grow literally thousands of flower and vegetable plants from seed each year, almost all started off in seed trays in the greenhouse especially very early in the season!

I'm sure others do exactly the same!

If I were to plant one seed in a large pot, well!!!!!!

I actually think/find that by transplanting small plants on from one pot to a slightly larger one makes for stronger faster growing plants!

I find that small plants left in larger pot with lots of compost do not do as well as the above method!

With seedlings it is almost like root pruning and the roots then make more roots where they have been broken when taken from their original seed compost.

It is all about space to grow and manage plants!

 

Thats a good point about encouraging the roots to use up all the available space, rather than just shooting down to the bottom of a large pot.

 

Hi

Apart from the above mention reasons, another good reason would be propagation temperature. It is much easier to get your seeds going in a heated propagator all in one small space than to try an heat a large area of bigger pots.

David

 

From what i have read it's important to pot on in stages when your plants have a good root system, After all your root system is your plant, Iam trying to grow tomatoes, chilli's, and cucumber this year in the greenhouse for the first time and they won't be potted on until they have plenty of roots,

Good luck TG.

 

Thanks All , for another GC master class ! If I may sum it up for my reference
Potting a plant in stages to its final container.........

• Helps control the water available to the plant, reducing the risk of rotting.
• Controls and focuses the root growth , to develop a good root system
• Saves space.

You will make a proper gardener of me yet !