It depends on how badly your plant is rootbound. If your inner voice is hollering at you, it might be worth it to pull them up so that you can rearrange their roots a bit.

When a plant is root bound the roots at the bottom of the pot go round and round and get tangled up. The plant can't take in the nutrients it needs to grow and flower. If you plant a root bound plant without loosening the roots the roots will continue to circle the bottom of the plant and the roots won't spread out like they should.

If you are sure it was root bound I think you should dig it up and loosen the roots or the plant won't do well.

When you just made the error yesterday and you know it today, sure you can correct it now, and I would do that. Al

Thanks Al & Co! I'll dig em up! Don't know what I was thinking..........

i would take a knife.. dig them up.. and flail them..

i used to call it butterfly them.. knife right thru.. drag down.. turn 90 degrees do the same.. and then splay them like a shrimp .... or a pork chop ...

insure damp soil for 2 weeks ...

it will seem to be a massacre .. but it wont be .. have little or no fear ...

ken

Done, & it didn't take long to dig up 6 flats........ It's been 90+ degrees, with a dew point of 70+ here in NE Kansas all week, & I think I was focused on getting them in the ground quickly, the first time. Visions of a cold Heineken & A/C had started to cloud my thinking.... ;)

OP here....... Well here it is 3 weeks later & the impatients are slowly being ate by the rats with furry tails (ie damn squirrels). The drier it get the more they consume.... Pretty disheartening.......

then put the overhead watering on in the middle of the yard ... or put water out there for them ... birdbath.. sled ... etc ...

lure them away ...

ken

Get a motion detector sprinkler. When the furry rats come around they'll get wet. You are right they belong to the same family as rats but I've never had them go after flowers--strange.

One of the issues with this impatient bed is it's location (250' from the house). It sits at the entrance to my home, adjacent to timber & a creek, so the rats have isolation working for them..... This bed is new this year & I was afraid this was going to be a problem... No the rats don't actually eat the flowers, they either dig them up or chew them off at the ground.

and you are ruling out deer or rabbits??

impatiens are very high water users ... they may not have been the best choice for abandonment out there ...

you might want to go get an assortment of plants.. and see what will live out there with the benign neglect ...

sedum might work.. they enjoy dry ...

ken

Not ruling out anything, but the plants aren't being eaten just dug up or chewed off at the ground..........