I noticed a few of my winter pansies were floundering while the rest
were going great guns. On lifting the plants I found they hadn't
extended their root system beyond the original pot size and the centre
of the root ball felt solid and unyielding. Is this what they call being
root bound? Is there anything you can do before transplanting them? I
imagine soaking them would just wash the soil off and leave you with a
bunch of intertwined roots. Anyone got any tips?

"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...
I noticed a few of my winter pansies were floundering while the rest were
going great guns. On lifting the plants I found they hadn't extended their
root system beyond the original pot size and the centre of the root ball
felt solid and unyielding. Is this what they call being root bound? Is
there anything you can do before transplanting them? I imagine soaking them
would just wash the soil off and leave you with a bunch of intertwined
roots. Anyone got any tips?

It helps to gently tease the roots out of the root ball with a kitchen fork
or similar if they are so tightly bound

Robert (Plymouth) wrote:
"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...
I noticed a few of my winter pansies were floundering while the rest were
going great guns. On lifting the plants I found they hadn't extended their
root system beyond the original pot size and the centre of the root ball
felt solid and unyielding. Is this what they call being root bound? Is
there anything you can do before transplanting them? I imagine soaking them
would just wash the soil off and leave you with a bunch of intertwined
roots. Anyone got any tips?

It helps to gently tease the roots out of the root ball with a kitchen fork
or similar if they are so tightly bound



Not easy with such delicate roots. I wonder how vertical cuts into the
root ball would work. I know that's common practice on larger shrubs but
whether it works on a smaller scale I don't know.