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Help me save my lupins! Beginner here

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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Pot is tiny. That's the main problem  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • WilderbeastWilderbeast Posts: 1,415
    Teeny tiny pot for a lupin 
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    edited June 2020
    That's a pot for selling a plant in, not keeping it long term. Why not just plant it in the blue pot? 

    I would soak overnight, replant in a bigger pot with some good compost and cut all foliage to the base. The regrowth will be healthier looking. 
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Yes! I agree! I am on it! 
    I don't have any pots though at the moment (the blue pot is a plastic pot without any drainage holes and even the blue pot is probably too small for it really), so I am going to get a few big pots in a couple of days (payday...!) - hopefully she'll cope for just a couple more days and then I'll give her a pot ft for a Queen ;P 
    Growing a pink garden, one plant at a time....
  • celcius_kkwcelcius_kkw Posts: 753
    @alexemmersonuk you should invest in a power drill, or borrow it from someone. A lot of the pots in garden centres do not come with pre-drilled holes. 
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 1,039
    A soldering iron is brilliant for putting good holes in a plastic pot. Burns through nicely and does not leave jagged edges or break the pot.

    I’ve just planted up two “rescue” lupins which I bought at the garden center. They had been displayed on a shelf and all the flower spikes were bent to right angles! Looks weird but beautiful healthy big plants 1€ each instead of 15 ..... bargain find and loads of new spike coming so I was on a winner. Nice big pots and reasonably rich compost, here’s hoping both of us get more pretty flowers and years of joy from these plants.
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • @celcius_kkw
    @Jacquimcmahon

    I have a husband with all the DIY tools every created, from electric saws to laser level and umpteen power drills. He actually drilled some holes in our famous blue pot this morning, but we had a tomato plant that needed re-potting much more urgently (believe it or not). 

    @Jacquimcmahon
    well done on rescuing your lupin! Here's hoping mine continues to thrive, just need that pot now! 
    Growing a pink garden, one plant at a time....
  • PhaidraPhaidra Posts: 582
    Sam 37 said:
    ....I phoned my sister in law; she suggested "soaked washing up sponges on the surface of the compost and added ice cubes".  

    It sounded rather odd but, very slowly, it worked!
    You must give me your SIL's phone number as I'm frightfully good at desiccating or drowning the roots of my plants in pots; outdoors or indoors, I can succeed admirably!  Going away for just a week or two in periods of drought or leaving the pots in their saucers when the skies become incontinent,  can mean that I return home to a few losses :(   I always tell myself I must not repeat....

    At first I thought the idea of using ice rather too odd but I imagine, when you don't have a large enough vessel to contain your pot, they, and the sponges, give the soil a chance to absorb the water rather than letting it just run through.  She's a clever lady.  
  • Zoe P2Zoe P2 Posts: 848
    edited June 2020
    Helen P3 said:
    I love your SIL's spongy idea!

    Actually, I use ice cubes to help the carpet return to normal when I move furniture about.  I shall now use them on my dried out pots too!
    Thank you for the tip, Helen.  I actually used some ice cubes today to help the carpet lose its dimples, which it displayed when we moved the dining table to another part of the room.  The method worked beautifully.

    I just remembered tha Christine Walkden used cut up sponges, mixed with her potting compost, in order to, apparently, help it retain its moisture for longer than water gell crystals.  Useful things these sponges!



    I have a dream that my.. children.. one day.. will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character

      Martin Luther King

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