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Am I potting on to early

gazwilson194gazwilson194 Posts: 34
in Problem solving
Have just thrown away a Chilli plant which refused to pickup at all, when I removed it from the pot it root ball was nearly non existent even though the plant had got to about a foot high ... the pot was about 25cm and I had potted on from small  7cm pots

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Did you grow it from your own seed or buy it as a plant?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • gazwilson194gazwilson194 Posts: 34
    From seed, Numex twilight is the variety. Very small and compact bushy type so I was never expecting it to get very tall. It just dropped all its flowers as soon as they arrived so was obviously never going to fruit ... I have one in a slightly smaller pot which is doing a little better but not much ... had put down to the lack of sun this year
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    When you grow from seed you need to pot up in the smallest pot, when the roots fill that one you pot on just a little bigger,  so pot up gradually. if your plant is 12” with no root, either you didn’t wait for the roots to fill the previous pots or you have vine weevil which will eat the roots away, 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • gazwilson194gazwilson194 Posts: 34
    I think I did the first of the two ...lesson learnt, thanks.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Certainly, if you went from a 7cm pot into a 25 cm one, that's not great  :)
    It's as @Lyn says, be guided by the root ball, and just move them up a bit at a time. It's especially important earlier in the year when conditions are less suitable.
    In later spring and into summer, plants grow more quickly, and it's easier to move them on more quickly to their final pots.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • BigladBiglad Posts: 3,265
    Like me, it certainly sounds like you've been a bit keen ;) 

    I ended up with a couple of my de Cayenne with a puny root system whilst others had the roots dangling inches out of the bottom of the pot. Similar plant height and in the same size pot :o Part experiment, part over enthusiasm and part running out of certain pot sizes means that they've all been treated slightly differently and had different outcomes.

    In the end I've got a couple of decent looking plants with chillies starting to develop on them. The rest probably won't have time to catch up but I'm giving them the chance ;) 
    East Lancs
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I let mine get seriously pot bound, completely ignoring their cries of "let me out"
  • gazwilson194gazwilson194 Posts: 34
    Yes I very much went by the "this is the pots I've got so that's what its getting"
    Still don't understand how you can pot on plugs etc into large baskets and they grow fine ....
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