Pot bound?

Balgay.Hill · February 2022

This puzzles me when i read that some plants prefer having their roots constrained in smaller pots. Surely in their natural environment they would have unlimited room to grow. I understand that it is easy to over water if a plant is in too big a pot, but are some really happier constrained? Or is this just one of these garden myths that have never really been studied in depth?

Fairygirl · February 2022

There's the myth surrounding Agapanthus, but I haven't grown them in a long time, so I can't comment. I only had them in pots, and they didn't survive winter. It was before I knew some were less hardy, and I didn't have a greenhouse.
There's also a big difference between something growing naturally and something cultivated. Acers are a good example. Any plant that seeds/reproduces naturally, adapts to the conditions as it develops. That's quite different from something we deliberately sow and grow.
It's also the reason that many plants produce thousands of seeds - they don't always make it in the wild. Like frogspawn

Pete.8 · February 2022

It usually applies to some flowering plants - Agapanthus spring to mind for example and there are others. If they have lots of space they will predominantly grow leaves. With their roots restricted they're forced to produce more flowers.

But most plants like to have enough compost to keep them growing.
I think Monty explained it well a while ago - when you take the plant out of the pot, if you can see more roots than compost, then it needs re-potting

Balgay.Hill · February 2022

That's a good point about flowering plants, i had forgotten about that.

Fairygirl · February 2022

Yes - as @Pete.8 says - it's about flowering. That's what I was meaning when I mentioned Agapanthus. I didn't explain myself very well.

Balgay.Hill · February 2022

I understood you both @Fairygirl

I still wouldn't describe them as 'preferring' to be pot bound though in any description.
Maybe just that you can force flowering by keeping them pot bound?
My recent interest in mainly foliage house plants has made me question this description.

Fairygirl · February 2022

I've never experimented with it @Balgay.Hill, and I know some growers say it's a load of hooey about the restriction, but I've been looking at them again [agapanthus] with a view to getting a couple, so maybe I'll do that.
The difficulty here is getting the right place for them in the ground, and I don't have a lot of room left in the most suitable raised beds.
The way things are just now, it'll be May before the ground dries out.

Uff · February 2022

It seems there are differing opinions about agapanthus. I'd heard that they preferred a crowded pot so 2 years ago I bought 3 x 16in terracotta pots and filled them with Dr Brouwer plants. Then a year later a friend attended a short course on agapanthus growing given by a well known grower who said it was a myth that pots needed to be crowded but that they needed feeding regularly during the growing season to encourage flowering.
Well, I fed my crowded pots every week last year so I'll see what happens this year.

Balgay.Hill · February 2022

Fairygirl said:

The way things are just now, it'll be May before the ground dries out.

The ground is a tad damp, right enough.

Fairygirl · February 2022

Aye - and you're on the drier side @Balgay.Hill

I'd say the feeding has a lot to do with it too @Uff. I often think these 'stories' come about because of several factors, and often it's an obvious one that gets left out.

Uff · February 2022

Yes I agree with you there FairyGirl.

Pot bound?

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