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Death by teabag - again!

NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
in Plants
Why oh why do nurseries insist on growing plants in these things that restrict root growth and often end in their demise?

I’ve since learnt to rootle around in pots and cut them off if I find them. I obviously missed this one (a 2yr old plant). Even though the roots finally managed to penetrate the straitjacket, the rootball should be five times this size by now. And it should still be alive! It makes me so mad - all that wasted planning, purchasing, planting, nurturing and watering for nothing 😡 


Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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Posts

  • MeomyeMeomye Posts: 949
    @Nollie I totally agree, I found one only yesterday that looked just like that! :s
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Nollie I planted a rose for someone year ago in a biodegradable pot. It nearly died just rescued it in time pot intact.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I often find old tea bags in the soil with bone dry compost inside. Plant long gone.
    They do really small tubes now that are difficult to spot and difficult to remove. The old fashioned ones were a pain but at least you could remove them fairly easily and you definitely couldn't miss them..
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    Oh dear... I was mildly shocked by the thread title till I saw you meant a literal teabag. I am truly of a degenerate generation.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Anyone ever complained to the nursery and get any satisfaction? I mostly buy 9cm pots online and grow them on, or not grow in case! I recently discovered a 3L plant I bought from the local GC  that was three cuttings in teabags in a pot, so it’s not confined to the smaller plants either.

    The trouble is, they often survive and look fine for the first season, then they keel over and you find the rotters. The guarantee is well gone by then of course. 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I've lost two clematis because of them @Nollie .  Infuriating for you, as you say, with all the time and attention you're giving the plants, let alone the outlay.  I now look very carefully at the root systems on anything I buy.
    Like you, I also buy small plants and grow them on. Fortunately, most have been fine, but the clematis came from good suppliers, so perhaps I should have complained, as they're mature plants, not tiny things.
    I don't trust those bio degradable pots either. My daughter bought a little growing kit for some reason a few years ago, and I used the pots just to see how they fared. I wasn't remotely impressed.
    I never do the toilet roll thing for sweet peas either, despite all the info saying the tubes break down and allow roots to get through. I don't exactly live in a dry area, but any time I tried them, the roots simply didn't get through the card well enough. I went back to my usual methods.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Interesting about toilet rolls and Sweet peas, @Fairygirl. I stopped using them a few years ago, for the same reason.
    I also don't use the Coir pots, as I often used to find they didn't break down.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • alfharris8alfharris8 Posts: 513
    I couldn't get on with the coir disc things that swell but that might just be me.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Yes - I did it years and years ago @punkdoc , and thought it was something I was doing wrong, especially as most of mine stay in large pots, but every time I did it, they were hopeless.
    I eventually did a trial - the same seed and compost, one lot in the toilet rolls and one lot in the usual pots. The pots won hands down each time. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I’ve just bought a new clem @Fairygirl, so must check it. I’m shocked yours were from a good supplier, though, I think you should tell them. Anything allegedly biodegradable in soil never seems to biodegrade fast enough for plant growing purposes. 

    I also agree re coir @punkdoc, dreadful stuff you have to try and peel away from the roots before planting out. The high environmental and embodied energy cost of production and shipping is of course a whole other story... 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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