HINTS ON POTTING PLANTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 120, 22 May 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

HINTS ON POTTING PLANTS.

The pots should be absolutely clean and dry. Plants to be repotted should be allowed to go a little dry, as they then turn out more easily on their pots being tapped upside down. Well crock the bottom, and place a few leaves or moss on the crocks before adding any eoil. The soil should be eifted with a fine eieve to free it from over-coarse material. It should be sufficiently dry to leave the hands without sticking to them in the least. If potting up or repotting be careful to disturb the roots as little as possible. In the case of repotting, any congestion of fibrous roots at the base of the transferred plants should be corrected by carefully liberating the rootlets from their tangled state. This operation must not be carried too far. Add sufficient eoil at the bottom of the pot to bring the upper level to reach the roots of the new plant, and then holding the plant in the left hand shake the further soil around the roots and firm the soil. The compost for the potting should be suited to the requirements of the plants to be potted. Good loam is essential. The best loam is the top epit of an old pasture from the hills or upland of a grazing country. It should have some lime in it. The addition of old mortar rubble ie generally an acquisition, rhododendrons and azaleas excepted. Decomposed leaf soil ie a good addition, oak and beech leaf mould the best.