POTTING OF PLANTS.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

POTTING OF PLANTS.

TOO LARGE A POT IS FATAL. Tho novice is often puzzled by the need for gradual increase in the size of pots in the cultivation of plants. The question is frequently asked: Why not transfer a sturdy seedling, young plant,, or rooted cutting straight into a pot j large enough for fruiting or flowering? • A large bulk of soil about a small plant would naturally become stale and sour, before the roots had time to fill it. The j

tendency of pot plants is to sena ineir roots outwards towards the sides of the pots, where air and moisture are abundant. This would leave the soil in the centre of the pot devoid of roots for some time. The outside of the roots become matted before any penetrate inwards towards the unoccupied soil, which would through repeated waterings become more or less soqr. Should the roots seek to penetrate it, there is the possibility that the health of tho plant would become affected. By «. gradual method of increase in the sizes of the pots the roots penetrate equally all portions of the fresh soil, and obtain nourishment from them in proportion to the plant's requirements.