good questions....

please add...how much e.s. is to be used....
thx...

over to you tdog..

diggy

There are many ways to do this. I usually do not trim roots unless they are bound. I have made little razor cuts in the roots but also have not. If I only have a few to do, I soak the roots in water that has sat overnight to get rid of chlorine or use bottled water. I mix Superthrive or B-1 into the water. While the cutting soaks, I take a gallon pot filled with soil mix and pour into a larger container that drains. I mix in two tablespoons of epsoms salts and moisten the soil with the same water mix. I then put about 2" of the moist soil into the one gallon pot and after about an hour or two, set the roots on the moist soil and fill in around with the rest of the soil. I set the pot on warm concrete or a seed mat and let it dry (7-14 days depending on temperature) and then give a water soluable fertilizer at a half dose and then full dose every 14 days until leaves fill out. However, I have just done #2 above many times. I think more valuable plants get extra treatment but I can not say for sure a rooted plant needs it. They usually do fine. Cuttings are more tricky. Bill

Bill, are you saying that the plants should be potted-up in 1 gal pots? These are fairley large plants and I think one of the problems I had last year was that the gallon pot was too small.

Everything elese you have advised makes good sense to me and clears up most of my questions. Could you set me straight on proper pot size? And, where do I buy ES?

Thanks

I feel your pot should match the size of the root ball and the size of the plant. If a plant with a small root ball is rather tall so that when potted up it blows over in a slight wind, then a larger pot is needed. A root ball needs room to grow new roots but not too much. Generally, a plant of 2-4 feet can do fine in a 5-7 gallon pot. a mature plant of about 5-6 years old can go into a large pot depending on its size and size of the root ball. I would guess that if your roots occupy no less than half and no more than three quarters of of the space in the new pot you are in good shape. This gives you one to two years growth before potting up. I used to go 1,3,5,7,15, to 25 but now I cut out the 3. My plants are outside all year so I am not dealing with inside storage or bare rooting over winter. I root prune my 25 gal pots to keep the plants at that size (a major job for some of my plants) or I transplant to the ground. Hope this make sense. Bill

Makes sense to me. Thanks again Bill.

Mulchlady

I do it both ways some go in the green house in pots others are dug up and stored bare root. I soak them in superthrive water have a well here don't have to worry about chemicals. Good thought though! soak them couple hours then i start planting I put a little water in the hole as I bury them. Grounds always dry here. The potted plants I leave them alone unless theres lots of roots out of the pot I plunge the pots in the ground they blow over and dry out way to fast I use superthrive too. And dynamite I have hundreds of these and you only use the dynamite once a year