I'm new to these beautiful flowers, but the two I bought in spring were mostly fat roots and barely any soil. One is in its pot in the ground, with the bottom of the pot cut out, and one I put in without the pot. They're both flowering, so the restricted roots you have should be fine. Enjoy them! 😊
why didn't you just remove the pot?, just the bottom?
Because I read a lot about them, and opinions seemed to be divided 50/50 over constricting of roots or not, so I wanted to keep the roots of that one contained without having it in just a pot - the roots didn't reach the bottom of the pot, just a big clump to about half way down. I can remove the pot later.
I'd remove what's left of the pot. IMHO the whole "restricted roots" is an old wives tale. Mercifully growers / breeders etc are doing their best to debunk it now.
@Hostafan1 yes it appears so! I'll leave it for now as it seems happy and is flowering well, but will definitely remove the pot later on. There's probably more moisture in a plastic pot than in the soil at the moment!! 😄
I bought plants from the National Collection Holder. He had over 850 different varieties, 250 he'd bred himself. He used to give a leaflet with every sale and the first line said " Agapanthus are best in the ground "
Did he say why Hostafan? I suspect you're going to say to give the roots more space. I've always thought it odd that it was thought that roots should be cramped together and the only thing I could think that the reason was to fool the plant into producing more flowers because it felt threatened.
Did he say why Hostafan? I suspect you're going to say to give the roots more space.
Exactly. I find they actually like to be watered a LOT more than is thought. I have my evergreens in 35L pots sitting in saucers. I water them from above until the water fills the saucers and it's incredible how quickly water is sucked back up .
I'm new to growing hostas, only 2 years, so still learning a lot. One more question. I bought my first 9 plants, Dr Brouwer, at the end of the season after flowering, half price from a garden centre. I expect that they hadn't been fed after leaving the grower. I potted them up into 3 very large terracotta pots, watered them and then put them away in the greenhouse for the winter. Last year each pot only had a couple of flowers per pot and after speaking to a friend who grows them she advised feeding them them every week during the season and this year they have about 15 flowers per pot. I've fed them every week since spring this year. I'm pleased with that result.
My question is this, when a member asked how often they should be fed a week or so ago you suggested when they had finished flowering so am I feeding wrongly in your experience?
I feed all through the growing season. I should have clarified when talking about feeding, but it's VERY important to feed AFTER flowering to encourage new flowers for next season. It's easy to forget about them once they've " done their thing" for the season.
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IMHO the whole "restricted roots" is an old wives tale.
Mercifully growers / breeders etc are doing their best to debunk it now.
There's probably more moisture in a plastic pot than in the soil at the moment!! 😄
" Agapanthus are best in the ground "
I find they actually like to be watered a LOT more than is thought.
I have my evergreens in 35L pots sitting in saucers. I water them from above until the water fills the saucers and it's incredible how quickly water is sucked back up .
One more question. I bought my first 9 plants, Dr Brouwer, at the end of the season after flowering, half price from a garden centre. I expect that they hadn't been fed after leaving the grower. I potted them up into 3 very large terracotta pots, watered them and then put them away in the greenhouse for the winter.
Last year each pot only had a couple of flowers per pot and after speaking to a friend who grows them she advised feeding them them every week during the season and this year they have about 15 flowers per pot. I've fed them every week since spring this year. I'm pleased with that result.
My question is this, when a member asked how often they should be fed a week or so ago you suggested when they had finished flowering so am I feeding wrongly in your experience?
I should have clarified when talking about feeding, but it's VERY important to feed AFTER flowering to encourage new flowers for next season.
It's easy to forget about them once they've " done their thing" for the season.