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Teabag dilemma

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
in Plants
I have bought some healthy looking osteospermums in 9cm pots.
Unfortunately they have small teabags just below the surface. However there are good strong roots coming out of the base of the pot, so they must've broken free.
Shall I leave the teabags or remove them with probable damage to roots?
In London. Keen but lazy.
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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    To quote the wonderful Simon Mayo's show - 'it's at this point that I ask myself - what would Clint Eastwood have done?'   
    "Do you feel lucky?" .... ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Fibrex Nursery used to root cuttings in Jiffy Pots.  Is that what you call tea bags?  I used them too, the roots found their way out; that is how you knew when to pot on.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    No. Bede They're not jiffy pots. They're fabric socks that aid industrialisation of horticulture but strangle the root systems of plants with fine to medium roots. There are threads on the subject if you're interested.
    No @Fairygirl. I don't feel particularly lucky. I think I'll leave them and hope I don't regret it in a couple of months.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You might be able to carefully cut them away when you're potting them on or planting them out @B3, although if the roots are doing well so far, it might be ok. Tricky though. 

    Dreadful things.  :/
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I tipped one out . It would be hard to access . Managed to remove one from a thunbergia, though.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    That's the problem isn't it? Too random.
    I lost a nice alpina clematis that was in one, but I didn't realise until it was too late, especially as they like drier conditions and it had been fine in the bigger pot it was put into. After it was planted out, it started to decline, and it was only when I lifted it out that I could see how little it had grown out of the r*ddy bag. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    If I inadvertently buy teabag grown plants ,I plant them after carefully cutting down one side to hope they’ll open up as the roots grow . Goodness knows why anybody would use them ! 
  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295
    I bought a couple of plants recently that they had been used on.
    Some roots were escaping, but to give them a better chance I took a sharp razor blade and put 4 splits down the sides of the teabags.
    That seemed a bit less intrusive than trying to untangle the bags from the plants.

    Time will tell if this was a bright idea or a disaster  :#

    Bee x
    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I think making slits is a better idea than trying to remove them completely, but it's difficult because they'll vary, and some might come off more easily.
    One of those 'look and see' situations. 
    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
    B3 as our chief Just Stop Teabags warrior, we need to get you on GW to do an exposé of their use by big horti. So many plants die as a result of these pernicious things, it’s shockingly wasteful.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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