How can ‘over-potting’ be a thing when plants grow straight from the Earth’s surface with infinite amounts of soil available?
In: 1858
The nutrients required for flowers are the same as roots. For perennial plants it is usually more advantageous for survival to spread roots than to flower. Roots take up a wider area for shoots to come up if the plant above the ground is injured.
Once the roots are constrained those nutrients can’t be used to make more roots, so it us used in flowering, fruiting, and seeding.
The other thing that tells plants to flower is the shortening of days. Constraining/rootbounding a plant convinces it to flower early.
Example: if you repot a primrose into a much bigger pot it will take a year or more to fully flower. If it is repotted into a pot of the same size it will flower within a couple months. The same is true for African violets, Christmas cactuses and countless more.
Edit: Why would someone repot a plant into a similar or slightly large pot? Eventually the roots get so dense that most of soil is gone and then the plant can only absorb nutrients through slow drip hydroponics. Sound fancy and scientific? It is, and very tempermental and difficult to maintain.
Latest Answers