Overcrowded flower plants - repotting?

My wife potted some Impatiens (busy Lizzies) and Petunia plants together in large pots some weeks back... but being inexperienced she placed them quite close together... that looked fine at the time. Of course now they have grown somewhat and they are very crowded, forcing some of the flower heads to be trapped underneath the tightly packed foliage.

Obvious answer is to re-pot, but will they tolerate that at all? I've suggested lifting out individual plants with a trowel, aiming to keep the rootball undisturbed, then potting 3 plants to a tub rather than the six that are currently in there. Would that work? Or will they not like it? I'm not good with flowers (I'm the veg man!). What do you think?

Other that the overcrowding, they are looking in rude health and are flowering nicely.

 

You could replant them Canucks, they should be OK if your carefull, Petunias will take over the Busy Lizzies, there Larger...Or leave them and see what happens as Buzy L dont mind shade, you might just have to water them more....

 

I guess it depends on the size of the pots, as I dont think 6 plants per pot is too much.

I have just planted over 50 in one planter although its very large!

 

I assume they were bought as plug plants?


Soak the pot through and get to it with bare hands, your fingers and care will tease them apart. Like Dee saiys if you are careful they will be fine.

 

Agree, Petunia will take over and probably bury the Impatiens particularly if they are the normal bedding variety (New Guinea hybrids grow bigger).

 

Thank you all for the tips, we'll give them a good soak tomorrow and tease them apart and re-pot. I was worried about root disturbance after a few weeks bedded in, but looks like we should be okay if we're careful.
At least we've learned that these two are not good bedfellows. It's all a learning curve for us at this point, so thanks for our education. :gnthb: