Potting up plants...gradual pot sizes vs biggest pot

[gtarman]

Hey all. So I'm curious as to what the consensus is on this one - some folks have told me that with potted plants you should start with a smaller pot size and then each year pot it up one size at a time, saying this is better for root development as opposed to just plopping the plant straight into the final size of pot that it will be mature in.

Just curious to know whether this makes a big difference, whether it's more specific to plants etc. I'm planning to add a couple of dwarf fruit trees to my collection soon but I can't really be arsed messing about with minor increases in pot size each year - I think I'm just going to dump them straight into the big old tubs that fruit trees eventually end up in when they get big.

[zelly]

its really dependent on what it is you're potting up & potting soils used......but generally speaking larger pots from the git-go translates into bigger plants.

pot up some 3-4 cm trich seedlings in 10 cm pots and seedlings from the same batch in 2 liter pots and then track their growth rates.

would it be advisable to pot up 5mm loph seedlings in 2 liter pots? Not hardly. Why not?

think of a pot as a closed ecosystem and whether the plant tolerates wet soggy feet, either by human watering or mother nature supplying the water.

dwarf fruit trees? heck yes, biggest pots possible

[MountainGoat]

I have noticed that moving through pot sizes gives better root development within the pot sizes. If I move straight to larger pots, roots tend to amass at the edge of the pot with less root development in the centre. Also, soils compact and change over time. Even if you have potted into large pots, you still need to re-pot them (into the same pot) so that you can minimise the anaerobic build up at the bottom of the pot (and give fresh nutrients).

If you move directly to larger pots, you will initially see a greater growth rate, but over time you will notice that moving through pot size will give better growth pattern and overall performance. I have 1000's of pots full at any one time, I always move through pot sizes even with all the added work...

[Etho]

having found out the hard way and putting tiny seedlings/plants into their 'final home' is not effective and thus the staggered potting stages needs doing. This may not be the case for all species only ones I have cultivated myself. Some species of Cacti/Succulents seem not to mind where they are stuck in the ground.

[gtarman]

I have 1000's of pots full at any one time, I always move through pot sizes even with all the added work...

That literally sounds like my idea of hell...like I get there and the devil is waiting with a thousand rootbound Opuntias

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

I usually stagger from 80, 100 to 140mm for leafy things. From 140mm and root bound they are fairly safe for a large container but any smaller I've always had troubles. My general rule is if it's finicky then go up the sizes slow. If it's a 4" hardened off trich then it probably won't suffer going straight into a 20L pot.

A bloke I do work for goes straight from tube to 180mm squats for his succulents, some really suffer but others take off. If he looses 25% he doesn't care because he just leaves them then until they are saleable and gets me to do more productive jobs around the place than potting up.

I guess it depends what your gardening to a fair extent

[mutant]

depends on many parameters,

mainly in what you're growing and its root habits

but also the type of pot (clay, plastic, how many holes etc)

most of all, it all has to do with growing style

trial and error

following the "rules" or not

make your own style!

some times it even has to do with whether you want the plant to get really big, or you want to control its girth and growth gradually

[mutant]

zelly, re>> lophos, I would say non caespitosas really like deep pots,

so I would really recommend deep and narrow pots for the tap root of the real l. williamsi when seedling

width is not really needed, but depth yeah, not unlike, say mandrake or other plants with fatty roots

so like zelly said

for a 5mm lopho you would like a 10-12 cm deep pot, with narrow margin

and when it gets 2 cm, you put in in even deeper pot, narrow margin again.

because for this cactus, its optimal for it to have the most depth to develop the carrot root

same for other carrot root cacti

Edited September 10, 2015 by mutant

[gtarman]

Thanks guys. Ended up going for the bigass fruit-tree pot for my dwarf avocado, seems to be doing well!

[Derkshaman]

The main reason I like to up-pot gradually is that I damage the roots less taking a plant out of a conservatively sized pot, vs an oversized pot where the roots really stretch out. Yes plants generally grow faster in bigger pots, but like others are saying, there's such a thing as too big when it become counterproductive, particularly with slower growing plants.

[shonman]

I like to step up gradually in pot size=better roots.

Denser,

I just transplanted two M Speciosa trees (ok the have here) out of large unwieldy industrial size garbage cans.

Too big to deal with taking indoors for me,

Someone else planted these a while ago.

I am having to transplant them down in size to 1/3 their original container size.

One looks like it was gradually stepped up into bigger containers, roots /size was dense.

The other looked like it went right into the large container without gradually stepping up in size.

The roots shot straight to the bottom of its container and got this without the same density.

This one is having to adjust more.

I have some experiencer and 'listen' to the plant, so I am pretty sure both will make it.

Gradual up in pot size=better root system.

Although, Mutant is correct about depends on what plant...example: Mandrake

Edited October 1, 2015 by shonman