It should be fine in there still, but repotting will be beneficial. All mine in 5gals are one giant root ball at this point.

Jay

Thanks Jay. I'm off tomorrow. I'll put it in a larger pot. I read another post where members were advising to do it when it's cooler.

Is it okay to water it before transplanting? It needs water but I did not water yet until I know for sure.

I just bought a bag of pro-mix HP. Been wanting to try it..see what all the hype is about :-)

Stoney

This post was edited by stoneys_fatali on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 22:21

I water after the repotting. When I've tried it before, the roots get all soggy and try to get unruly on me. If severely root bound tease the bottom and side roots loose before the repot. Give them a healthy soak once they hit the new home too.

Jay

Yellowing leaves indicate you might be overwatering. If you are sure you are not overwatering then they need some fertilizer. If your roots are rootbound this may be why they are not taking up nutrients or even water properly. I am sure all my plants' roots are crowded but they are still growing well.

I see in photos that Jay and Judo (both in central Florida) have 2 year old plants in 5 gal. buckets and they are doing fine. Root bound plants, if fertilized won't get yellow and drop leave. As Jay said, probably your plant is over watered and under fed (Nitrogen).
For your climate (SoCal, 8+ months of growing season), 3gal pot sounds too small. The next upgrade to 10 gals. is probably a wide jump. I would do 5-6. But obviously bigger pot won't hurt. The only thing is the cost (pot +potting mix)

So, if you have a 5 gallon container and it is totally rootbound, can you cut the roots by half and re-pot with new soil.

Would not the plant continue to re-root in the new soil or will cutting some roots off kill them?

This post was edited by RonnyB123 on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 18:18

So, if you have a 5 gallon container and it is totally rootbound, can you cut the roots by half and re-pot with new soil.
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I think that is what they do that with house plants often. Trimming and cutting roots also keeps the plant growth/size down. That is a BONSAI practice to some extent.

Superficial (surface) roots are normal.

Cutting off roots won't hurt the plant if you don't get too crazy about it. Too few roots and they won't be able to keep up with the water demand of the foliage, but that (generally) just results in some wilting.

But I don't see that cutting roots will help. If you're going back into the same size pot the plant will just get root bound again. So you have to decide: either being root bound is okay, or you have to move up to a bigger pot.

Water *after* re-pot, not before. A dryer soil is less heavy, thus easier to handle, and will be much more coherent, meaning it won't fall to pieces before you can got it into it's new home. Don't be afraid of re-potting, just go slow and easy and all will be fine. It's one of those garden tasks that I enjoy because it puts me in contact with that hidden half of the plant. Much one can learn from what's going on under the dirt...

Bon chance,
Dennis

I put him in a 16" (across top) pot..what is that? 5 gallon?