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Do plants 'know' they're in a pot?

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  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    edited June 2020
    It has been established that trees talk to each other through chemical messengers & the Mycorrhizal  fungi in the soil as well as chemical messages in the air. They can warn each other of insect attack. Roots are sensitive to light air gravity & water, and touch if they encounter a stone or other solid object they will try to go round it.
    AB Still learning

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    It's odd when you move a plant from a small pot where the roots are nowhere near the side or the bottom. You put it into a larger pot and it explodes into growth. What sensors is it using to "know" that its resources have suddenly increased?
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Its roots - they are like mini chemical laboratories and can
    detect the presence of lots of things such as potassium, magnesium, iron, as well as soil acidity/alkalinity and organic matter.
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    I have had trees grown as bonsai for several years (with root,leaf and branch pruning to keep them small and healthy).To sometimes thicken up a trunk we plant them in the open ground,digging up each year and root pruning etc.
    My Mum did this with a Ginkgo and forgot it and it is now 20ft tall!
    While in pots the bonsai stay small (with care) but put in the ground they very quickly revert to their normal size.
    I have Pyracantha,Lilac and a Cherry which are now full size in the garden even after being 'bonsaied' for several years!
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    A bit like foot binding for plants😉
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Rosa Glauca 'knows'. It's been in the ground less than a week and it's grown about 18 inches!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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