I found that the reason some of my plumies--those rooted in 2010 or 2011--did so well during our recent cold front was because they had grown significant roots into the ground under them. This happened just over the summer for varieties like Dazzler and Maverick.

Will it delay blooming if I repot these a couple times a year? They look fine, don't miss a beat, when they're put into larger pots, but I don't know what happens on a cellular level if they're moved too much.

Thanks all!
Jen

This is one reason I like the gritty mix. This is personal preference of course, but I prefer to overpot since it buys more time. However, traditional potting soils have limited lifespans, and also too much water can be retained if the roots don't occupy the majority of the pot. With the gritty mix this is not a concern.

Good luck!

Brian, the root ball remains intact and I just add a few inches of new soil all around. The fact that they stay together tells me that the plants are getting somewhat rootbound. The plants definitely don't deplete the soil as far as I can tell. It's always still very loose and fresh-looking.

George, it's mostly two- and three-gallon sizes that are going up to the next size. And it's not just a half-dozen feeder roots--those I just break off--it's so many that they make a matted mass of roots at the bottom of the clay pot they're set into. Some make several thick roots that grow into the ground under them.

Generally I repot plants once a year or every two years, depending on how much root mass I see at the top of the pot or coming out of the bottom. Seedlings are re-potted sometimes twice a year. I'm just not sure with young plants if they're less likely to bloom being repotted frequently, despite how good they look.

tc
George

How long after rooting a cutting can you go really large for the pot size? Would you take, say, an 18" tall cutting that was rooted more than a year ago and plunk it into a 7- or 10-gallon pot?

And can you get away with a smaller size pot on a plant you plan to plunge in the ground for most of the year, since the roots will grow out into the surrounding soil?

I checked the pot size of several of mine and realized that I have only a fraction in 5-gallon or larger pots. I'll move all the rest next spring into 5- or 7-gallons.

If you use a good mix you should not worry about too wet and rotting of roots. In our hot climate the mix should hold some water but drain well. I use 1/3 soil, 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 pumice. Works really well. I do not use organic matter in my potting mix. It rots within a year and makes the mix not drain well. Instead, I put 2" of mulch at the top to keep the mix from drying too quickly and keep the roots cooler. If you do not mulch the pots they just dry up too quickly in Texas.

With respect to plunging, the 5-gallon squat pots are 14" in diameter and you can easily plange them. The 7-gallon squat pots are 16" in diameter and you can also plange them (they are not way too heavy).

tc,
George

George

In my opinion many do keep the pot size restrictively small for understandable reasons but if the plant can go in the biggest pot that can be moved that will give the best results. I have found my lifting limit without a dolly or second set of hands is 25 gallons so that is my largest size. Most get to that size by the 4th or 5th year. Then I root prune every 3 to 4 years for maintenance.

In the spring I will be using a pot that is 20 inches across and 12 inches tall as my standard mid size plant (for plants with 5+ tips and about 3+ feet tall). I'm estimating about 12 gallons. I transplanted 4 into those new pots in August. This pot was picked based on George's previous post in early summer about roots radiating outward versus downward and my own observations which mirror those results.

In previous years before becoming an active poster on GW I stayed away from organic material in my mix but after reading many posts here I started incorporating pine bark mulch. I feel that the trees which had pine bark in a transplant done two years ago seem to already be underperforming this year. I'll be opening them up in the spring to see what it looks like. There could be other reasons too.

I use a thin layer of lava rock to dress the top and keep the soil from eroding. Its doesn't degrade or float off and catches granular fertilzers in between the rocks where it dissolves with each watering.

George

When you say under-performing, how would you describe that? Little foliage? Small inflos? No inflos?

I ask because I've always used a composted shredded wood product--mixed with 1/3 oil-dry or Turface instead of perlite--and had great results, thick foliage and strong growth. I add either Osmocote or Ladybug slow-release fertilizer, then fertilize periodically with a liquid.

Thank you for that tip, Barbra. I bought several five-gallon decorative pots and will get some more black 5s and 7s from my mom this winter. Most of mine will be going into their third or fourth seasons next spring. Don't think I could pick up more than a 15-gallon myself.

This year I tried adding more pine bark chunks, sifted for small size, and then threw the larger pieces on top of each pot for mulch.

Pumice is a naturally-occuring product that occurs when pressurized rock is molten and spewed from a volcano. It becomes filled with air pockets. It is the same material as 'Lava Rock', which is often used as a decorative mulch. One can manually pound down the larger Lava Rock with a hammer, but who's got the time?

Oil-Dri is man-made fired clay and very absorbant. I believe it holds more water than the real pumice (and it's probably heavier too). So you have to be careful using too much of this product. Turface is also a fired clay product.

Real pumice in small sizes is nearly impossible to find here on the East Coast.

tc,
George

I'm not sure as to the potential reason(s) just yet. The growth of an oak tree is probably cutting a half hour of full sun and adding more time to part sun/shade during peak summer, it may be root bound, those two pots had many small drain holes (versus my current 1" diameter drain holes + a wick on bigs and 1/2 inch on smalls) and it's potential that roots have plugged up too many of them. They are also pretty big for being potted so maybe I need to accelerate the root pruning. I cannot reach around the trunk with my hand. I would estimate the trunk diameter to be 10+ inches.

My fertilizing routine was not as consistent as previous years but that was across the board with all plants. Not just those two. So there are quite a few variables.

The spring awakening and transplant will be the tell. I really think its a constant game of adjustments and tinkering but that is the whole fun of it.

Bill?

Pumice, on the other hand, similar to perlite, likely doesn't 'attract' as much moisture and is therefore better suited as a supplement to lighten and loosen the mix.

But I've never used it and am only going by what I hear. So, throw all this out if I'm wrong! LOL!

Sort of OT, but I remember reading you are located in SoCal ... Where did you find that big bag of pumice you've got in your picture above? Thanks! Jenny

Thanks Bill for your help here. I truly appreciate it!

Andrew

If you really want to plant your plumerias in larger pots 10-25 gallons, you could but you have to lift them out of the pot and store them either bare rooted or with a small rootball. Here is how you do it. This is a plumeria in a 20-gallon pot.

You first dig out the dirt around the plant into a tub. It is easy to dig as most roots there are feeder roots and are small in diameter. Then you cut the large roots around the pot with a sparp-shooter spade.

Then you lift the plumeria onto a plastic sheet. I use 4-mil plastic (from the previous year from running around the patio to enclose it for the winter.

I then wrap the rootball with the plastic and tie it with twine.

I then put it on plywood in the garage. It is not heavy, the roots do not dry out, it does not take much space, and the plumeria gets a beneficial root prunning every year, since its planted back in the same pot in the spring.

By the way, I am publishing an article on using squat pots for plumerias in the January issue of Plumeria Potpourri of the PSA.

George