Repotting

“ The spring is the best season for repotting, because the bulbs are then starting into growth and make their new roots in the new stuff, and have all the advantage of it from the first. It is a good plan to repot a portion every spring, and not to allow a single flower on the lot last potted, but to pinch out the flower-buds as soon as they appear. Always pot firm, and always give them a substantial loamy compost. ”

“ Those whose nature agrees better with repotting at other periods, shall be noticed, especially those that are in the collections of the country. We have previously observed, that plants ought not to be flooded with water when newly potted, as it saturates the soil before the roots have taken hold of it; and that the best draining for pots is small gravel or potshreds broken fine. We wish it to be understood that when plants are repotted, any irregular branch or shoot should be lopped off, that cannot be tied in to advantage. ”

“ Don't think that your house plants need repotting two or three times a year if they are [93] growing in good-sized pots. Once a year is quite often enough if you apply fertilizers at intervals of four or five months. Plants in small pots may outgrow their quarters, and these should be shifted to those of larger size when they have filled the old ones with roots. ”

“ Shifting may be done at any time, even though the plant be in full bloom, while repotting should be done when the plant is dormant, as it is likely to cause the buds to blast and the foliage to droop. Plants less than a year old are better shifted than repotted—especially such as have neither bloomed nor shown any decided tendency to rest. After blooming and resting, if they are in as large a pot as you care to handle, they may be repotted in fresh soil, care being taken not to injure the roots, while dead roots should be removed with the shears. ”

“ When repotting is adopted as a temporary expedient, as in the case of bedding-out plants which it is required to push forward as much as possible, it will suffice if provision is made to prevent the drainage hole from getting blocked, and a rich light compost is provided for the encouragement of the roots. When, however, a hard-wooded plant has to be repotted, the case is different ”

“ Often a plant will have outgrown its pot, thus making immediate repotting necessary in order to continue the healthy condition of it, but if there is no good soil at hand it will be obliged to do the best it can until spring comes, and by that time it will have received a check from which it will be a long time in recovering, and quite often it will die as the result of failure to give it proper attention when it was in most need of it. If you have a supply of potting-soil in stock there will be no excuse for not caring for your plants promptly when the advisability of repotting is indicated. ”

“ As pot plants they are very beautiful, and in this method perfection is only obtained by growing them on fast and strong by generous treatment, which consists in frequently repotting in light rich compost till they are large enough to be trained up a trellis, formed of slender rods of willow or hazel. Propagated by seeds and cuttings. ”

“ Plants kept through the winter for stock plants are usually started up and repotted early in February to induce the abundant new growth that furnishes cuttings. The method of repotting will depend on the nature of the plant. Soft-wooded plants, like geraniums, are put in in the ordinary way and firmed with the fingers. The palms do best with the new soil more firmly packed about the old ball of roots. Hard-wooded plants with very fine roots, like the azaleas, should have the soil rammed down firmly about the old ball ”

“ Pines.—Repot as they may require; for if they are allowed to remain in a pot-bound state at this season they are very apt to start prematurely into fruit. It is also particularly requisite that the balls are thoroughly moist at the time of repotting. To give strength to the growing stock, it is advisable to admit abundance of air in the morning part of the day; and in the afternoon, to encourage a high degree of heat with an abundance of atmospheric moisture. ”

“ By persevering in this mode of treatment for some time, and never advancing more than one size at a time, a plant may be grown to a large size, and made to produce abundance of flowers; while by the contrary treatment, that is, suffering it to remain in a very small pot, or shifting it suddenly into a very large one, the stem will become weakened and elongated, and the flowers will be few and very poor. In short, on the skilful management of repotting, or shifting, as the gardeners call it, a great deal of the art of growing plants in pots depends. ”

“ When pot-bound, the plants flower most freely, and it is not necessary to repot large specimens more often than about once every three years. When potted they should be placed in a sunny position in a close house or frame, and be kept freely watered. In bright weather they may be syringed overhead twice a day. For the first few days after repotting it is advisable to shade the plants from bright sunshine. A stove temperature is required until growth is finished. After this they should be gradually ripened by admitting more air and exposing to all the sunlight possible. ”

“ The best time for a general repotting of ferns is in spring, just before growth commences. Those with creeping rhizomes can be propagated by dividing these into well-rooted portions, and, if a number of crowns is formed, they can be divided at that season. ”

“ Pick off all decayed leaves, and tie up any straggling shoots; stir up the earth on the top of the pots, breaking it fine where it is hardened by the frequent waterings. This will allow the fresh air to act upon the roots, which is one of the principal assistants in vegetation. For those that require shifting or repotting, see Green-house, March; the plants enumerated there equally apply here, if they are in the collection, with this difference, that well kept rooms are about two weeks earlier than the Green-house. ”

“ It depends, first, on how fast it grows. A willow may need this attention twice a year, a conifer once in five years. A general rule is to repot flowering and fruiting plants about once a year, most deciduous varieties every other year, evergreens every three to five years. But don’t follow that schedule too literally. If a tree begins to wither or look weak, if its color turns sickly and it shows no sign of growth, if its roots are so packed they hump up the soil, root-pruning and repotting are often the “shot in the arm” that can save it. ”

“ If any of the repottings were neglected, during May or June, let it be done about the first of this month. Let young plants that are growing freely, where the roots have filled the pots, and the plants required to grow, have pots one size larger. In turning out the ball of earth, keep it entire, not disturbing any of the roots. ”

“ Sow the seed thinly—1/4 in. to 1/2 in. apart—and cover with a very thin sprinkling of the soil. Protect with a square of glass covered with a piece of brown paper for shade, and place on a shelf in a warm greenhouse. The soil should never be allowed to get dry.
When the seedlings appear, remove the covering, care being taken that they do not suffer for want of shade, water or a moist atmosphere. As soon as the third leaf appears, repot singly into thumb-pots in slightly coarser soil, so that the crowns of the little plants are just above the level of the soil. ”

“ When the bloom begins to fall, cut the plants down, and repot into a larger size; place them in a cold frame facing the east, the lights on during the day, with air, and entirely off during the night, unless in rainy weather, as the night dews are highly beneficial. Treated thus the plants will soon produce new shoots, which must be taken off and pricked out into small pots in a very open soil, and placed in a very gentle bottom heat to strike. When rooted, to be shifted into pots of a larger size. ”

“ One, or at most two, sizes larger than the last pot should be used, or, in the case of Aspidistras, you can divide and repot into the same size, or even smaller ones. Some people say these plants are impatient of disturbance, but we have found them easy to manage with a little care. Never use pots that are not both dry and clean. If they are dirty they must be well scrubbed with soap and hot water, and then well dried before you use them. You must also get a little good soil from a nursery gardener before you divide or repot any of your plants. ”

“ The air of the house to be kept moist by sprinkling the pathways, floors, tables, &c., daily. If any plant is found not to have ripened off its bulbs it should be placed in the warmest part of the house, and the ripening process encouraged. The Brassias, Cyanoches, Cœlogynes, Miltonias, and other such plants, when they are beginning to grow, to be repotted. The compost to consist of turfy peat mixed with a portion of charcoal or broken potsherds, and the pots to be at least half full of very open drainage. ”

“ For layering, good-sized shoots should have a few of their leaves removed, and should then be put in pots of soil until rooted. The plants may afterwards be grown on, and repotted according to their strength. Cuttings may be taken in spring or later in the year, from shoots of the preceding summer’s growth, and placed in a compost of peat and sand, and plunged in bottom heat in a frame. ”

“ If pots sufficiently large can be obtained they are to be preferred to tubs, and it will be well to remember that overpotting is no advantage, and the size of the pot, may, as a rule, be determined by its ability to carry the plant without toppling over. Large plants should be repotted every three years at least, and the simplest way to do is to tie the plant carefully and securely and then to cut it through just above the roots and then plant the top with its short stump in a well prepared pot of fresh soil one or two sizes smaller than the pot or tub it was taken out of. ”

“ Removing dead leaves, broken branches, weak and sickly plants, and otherwise keeping the place tidy and trim. Sowing the seeds.
Prepare the surface earth well, to make a good seed-bed. Plant when the ground is moist, if possible, and preferably just before a rain if the soil is of such character that it will not bake. For shallow-planted seeds, firm the earth above them by walking over the row or by patting it down with a hoe. Special care should be exercised not to sow very small and slow-germinating seeds, as celery, carrot, onion, in poorly prepared soil or in ground that bakes. ”

“ The root-pruning of pot-plants is necessary in the case of many soft-wooded subjects which are grown on year after year—pelargoniums and fuchsias, for example. After the close pruning of the branches to which they are annually subjected, and when the young shoots have shot forth an inch or two in length, they are turned out of their pots and have the old soil shaken away from their roots, the longest of which, to the extent of about half the existing quantity, are then cut clean away, and the plants repotted into small pots. ”

“ A considerable proportion of the finest flowers may be raised from seed by the aid of a frame and a little careful management. We will take as an example a very restricted garden. Here is a small frame and some packets of seed, and the month of February or March has arrived. The pans and pots are made ready with sweet sandy compost, and the seeds are sown and labelled, and the pans and pots are packed together in the frame on a bed of clean coal ashes, or some slates, or tiles, or bricks laid on the soil, to promote warmth and cleanliness and to prevent the intrusion of worms among the seeds. ”

“ When and how to repot a plant should be the least of a gardener’s problems. Here is a case where hovering, pampering, and fussing usually does more harm than good. Plants are often better repotted mañana than today.
I know many of my plants have benefited from the fact that I have been too busy to repot them whenever the impulse came over me. I hate to think how many I have killed with kindness in my less active years. ”

“ We shake the soil away and cut off all the roots, and repot them, when, as soon as they begin to grow, they will send out their new roots into fresh soil. The material we use for potting is good rough fibrous loam and leaf mould, with a little rotten manure, mixing them well together, and giving good drainage with a layer of rough peat and moss on the top of it. In potting, fill the pot up with the soil and place the bulb on the top, just making it firm ”

“ Figs.—A free supply of water, with liquid manure occasionally, to be given to the most forward crop. Where there is the convenience, the trees in pots are generally placed in a pit of rotten leaves into which they root, and where they are allowed to remain until they have borne their crops and ripened their wood, when the roots are cut back to the pot. Trees planted out succeed best when confined in brick pits, where short-jointed fruitful wood is produced without root pruning, which is necessary when the roots are allowed to ramble without control. ”

“ Place the pots in a warm, moist position, carefully shading from the sun. A light sprinkling of water daily will be necessary. Immediately some plants are large enough for shifting, lift them tenderly from the seed-pot, so as scarcely to disturb the rest, and prick off into large 60-pots in which the soil has a convex surface. Follow this process as plants become ready until all the seedlings have been transferred. When potting on allow the leaves to rest on the soil, but avoid covering the hearts. ”

“ If they are turned out of the pots into rich, moist soil, in April, and the runners are kept off all summer, they will make large, bushy stools, which will give a fine crop in autumn.
The amateur, with a small conservatory or south window, by approximating as far as possible to the conditions named, can achieve a fair success. I have had plants do moderately well by merely digging them from the beds late in the fall, with considerable rich earth clinging to their roots, and then potting with more rich soil, and forcing them at once. ”