Lauren

It is 'beef of mine' about pots not filled enough with the potting mix...I am sure you noticed I mention it over and over on S&C forum. I am not talking about burying the stems deeper...

Rina, I'm having the same issue with some of my plants, though not as extreme. I'm always afraid of packing the soil too tightly. As a result, I leave it too loose, and within a couple of weeks it has receded. The last Sans I repotted I packed the soil much more tightly, and this one has held

You don't have enough potting soil in your pot! Wait until your ferns root and repot in Spring. Fill the pot to the top with your mix and replant. You don't need to plant deeper at all. Actually, it will probably kill the ferns.

Your pot needs more mix.

Jane

Oh no! I didn't know there wasn't enough in there! There is a great deal of room at the bottom. Perhaps the picture didn't show how deep the pot is?

By not enough soil, do you mean that it needs more on top? Rina, don't be peeved; I truly wasn't sure how high the soil line should be, but I definitely left room in the bottom.

Can I just top dress? Now I am worried,

Your pot, in fact any pot, needs to be filled to the brim. But that doesn't mean planting the plant deeper. You need to remove the plant. Fill the pot to the top and then replant. If the pot isn't full then you might as well be using a smaller one.

Looks to me as if that pot is too big (both too tall & too wide) for the small amount of asparagus fern.

A friend's family had one while we grew up, I recall it liked to be tight in the pot (& theirs went on to both bloom & set seed).

I'd switch it to a small pot if it were mine.

Hi Manuel,

I'll share a good trick about this & it's what I do w/ my succulents (which don't get watered in when repotted).

After filling the pot w/ mix from my hands or a spoon, I don't tamp it down w/ my hands. I pick up the whole pot & whack it against the table a time or 2. It settles the mix well around the plant & its roots, does away w/ air pockets & packs the mix down, but not too tightly. Works really well, try it!

Imontestella, I just learned a nice trick from you today! I'll be sure to use it in my future repots.

How would you use the trick on bigger pots? Ones that are super large and very heavy to carry-how would you use the table whack trick there? Would you just hit the side of the pot repeatedly?

Ok, I am properly confused now:(. Some say too big, some say too small. I actually reported this one up from a smaller container about a week ago. I thought it would give the roots room to grow. I added about one inch of space with the new pot.

So it was not good to pot up to a bigger size? Sorry, I am just trying to get a sense of what I should do based on everyone's advice....

Just follow what floral says. Do not bury the plant. Pull it out and fill the pot to the brim. Replant. The pot does look too big, always wise to only move a plant up one size bigger. Too much dirt, stays too wet, rotted roots.

If using potting mix, I always dampen it first to get it settled. Add more dirt to reach the rim before putting the plant in.

Jane

O.K., Jane:). Thank you! It is in a bark/ perlite/ cocopeat mix right now, so settling it is really easy. My hope is that with the fast mix, it won't stay saturated and rot, but I have to keep a weather-eye on it.

I will adjust it accordingly!

Laure, lol, not peeved at you... I am just very surprised how many ppl don't put in enough mix. Plants buried so deep don't get as good air circulation, some are so low light gets restricted too (have seen this with small succulents). Some of I is because of settling - ppl being too careful about not firming the soil enough. Tamping is good as Lena suggested (careful about banging the clay pots:), I rather use a chopstick to poke around to settle the mix. Some ppl follow the instructions on the bag (this was mentioned) to fil pot 2/3rds. Mistake is made that no more soil is added - I think this advise was meant o get 2/3 in, put the plant on top and add more...

Some just run out of mix.

Drainage of mix you used depends on proportions of ingreients....it may or may not be fast enough.

Jane - pls. do not use 'dirt' - dirt is what goes into garbage, not on plants...(just another peeve of mine).

While I agree, soil to the brim does look best. I don't think it's a must or means you need to use a smaller pot.

Personally, my large ficus is in an 18" terra cotta pot. Soil is about 6" from the brim. I did that so I'll be able to repot in the future, give the tree a little more room, but also keep it in the same pot.

However, none of that really matters since the wind blew the tree over last week, cracked the pot and I have it rigged just to get through the winter. Now I need a new pot next spring anyway. Ha.

Yes, I am a bit perplexed about why the soil has to be at the top brim. The bottom was what I was concerned with most. The soil line stops there because the mix settled and because I had already situated the roots where I needed them to be.. I don't really see the point in raising the plant up just to meet the brim. If I do that, I will be lifting the roots as well, which are situated about an inch above the bottom, giving them room to grow.

But, I figured there must be a reason I am missing....

sorry about your tree, Dave:((

If for no other reason - it doesn't look that great, at least in my opinion. I know, it doesn't matter to many.

There could be other reasons, especially with small plants - they get 'lost' inside of the pot. Light doesn't reach them as well as it should, and air circulation could be lessened too. The extra semi-enclosed space may add some to humidity too.

Dave, just wondering...aren't you doing some root pruning when repotting? That would reduce the root ball plenty, and same pot would be just fine.

Those all are very good reasons:). Thanks, Rina.

Rina, I didn't prune this time as the roots weren't the mess I expected them to be.

These ferns grow like weeds in Florida. People pull them out or Round-up them. They are a pest.

Indoors, another story. They need good drainage (Florida sand) and lots of light. I have them growing in my orchids and I constantly pull them out. The orchids are in bark and hanging in trees. Gives you an idea how aggressive they are. They are so annoying as they grow everywhere.

So don't worry so much. Repot in a good draining mix up to the brim, give them good light and humidity and enjoy!

Jane

Hi, L - Aesthetics aside, plants in pots half filled with soil are more susceptible to the fungaluglies than pots with soil levels about 1/2" lower than the rim when the planting is established, which would be what I consider ideal. The added susceptibility arises from the fact that pot walls block air movement to the lower parts of the plant, as well as light. The light issue would be especially important when you've potted ground-hugging plants in pots under-filled with medium.

I think you already know, but 'sand' as most growers think of it doesn't promote either drainage or aeration. Horticultural sand and other mineral products approaching .1" in size or somewhat larger can serve as an excellent component of a free draining soil, but no guarantee applies; and it doesn't do much when mixed into a medium that already drains poorly. E.g., mixing 1/3 fine sand into almost any usable medium would be counterproductive to drainage and aeration. Even if using coarse sand .1" or larger as 1/3:2/3 of a peat-based mix, benefits would be very minimal for the simple reason the fine particles would fill all (each/every) space(s) between the coarse sand particles, so the ht of the PWT and degree of aeration would be essentially unchanged. The only notable benefit would come in the form of a reduction of the total volume of water within the volume of soil occupied by perched water. IOW - the coarse sand within the PW column takes up space that would otherwise be occupied by water retentive particles, thereby reducing somewhat the volume of water in the PWT but not the ht of it by anything appreciable.

Al

Hi Al,

thank you for the scientific explanation. It makes perfect sense. I Will go ahead and adjust the plant's position in the pot today.

Also, just so you know, I didn't include any sand in the mix. It's a 511 mix, with just a bit of granite on the top. I dont think I've ever used in a mix before, but I've rescued many a store-bought plant from sandy soil!

-L

If I ever say anything that doesn't make sense, I hope SOMEONE straightens me out asap. The last thing I'd want to do is make available vague or unreliable info. I figured you knew how various types of "sand" function in container media, but others might've been inadvertently tempted to start adding any ol' kind of sand to their soils w/o realizing how high the probability is of that tack being counterproductive.

Al

Ah, gotcha:)