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dew plants get stunted(sp?)

K

kylestl

Do plants get stunted when they are inside in smaller pots or will they start to grow as soon as they are put in larger pots?

EDIT: lol what was i thinking dew hahahahaha i meant do
 
Just the question for me as i learned this the other day. Apparantly if you transfer a plant into a big container too soon you have the chance of stunting it. I would say leave it in there till it's fairly root bound and then transfer.
 
I try to wait until I can see roots at the bottom before transplanting to a larger pot. From my experiences this year, I will gradually pot up instead of jumping to a larger pot. It seemed to take the plant forever to grow, but it did finally catch up. I think some of it has to do with the fact a larger pot holds more moisture than a small plant can use, which can cause issues. They also spend all their energy growing roots to fill the pot, then focus on what you see above the ground.
 
many on here have great success with gradually potting up. my tabasco started in an 8oz cup, when root bound went to a 1 gallon pot, when rootbound went to a 4 gallon pot where it is again rootbound, but was afraid if the plant got bigger i wouldnt have a place for it, as it is now almost 8' tall!
 
This is a subject I find very confusing. What about plants that you plant right in the garden that have an unlimited amount of space for roots? I have 2 green pepper plants I put right into the ground that have grew faster and larger than all the other I have in containers. I would think being put in the garden would be like a huge container?
 
Even in a garden the soil doesn't get as much oxygen as a proper sized pot that gets watered(then dries out) frequently . The issue with too big a pot and overwatering is usually related to not enough oxygen in the root system
I always have my best success with potting up gradually
 
My thinking is that you always want to water enough for even moisture and when plants are freshly transplanted, they may not have enough roots, or traspire quickly enough to use up this much water quick enough. I find the more often I can water a plant, while letting it dry between waterings, the faster it will grow.
 
FadeToBlack said:
So if you have your plants in larger pots it would be better to let them stay fairly dry and not add too much water?
Click to expand...

With a small plant in a large pot that is diffuclt to do. The short roots would dry out and the little plant begins wilting, with the top few inches of soil dry. But deeper in the pot the water would accumulate and end up making the soil soggy, then smelly. It doesn't seem to matter how good your drainage is in such a situation.

The soil only really dries out if the roots are there to utilize the water.
 
I have been trying to keep track of the moisture level with a PH, light and moisture tester i have. The roots are about half way down the 1 gallon pots when I transplanted them. So I check the soil soil daily for moisture level about half the depth of the container. They still seem to be very green and healthy looking, so I guess I will wait till they dry out a bit before watering. In the future I will try and find smaller containers.
 
SanSoo said:
But deeper in the pot the water would accumulate and end up making the soil soggy, then smelly. It doesn't seem to matter how good your drainage is in such a situation.

The soil only really dries out if the roots are there to utilize the water.
Click to expand...


I disagree. If you do not soak your plant, you will not have soggy soil in the bottom of your pot. And if you are retaining that much water in the pot, then the drainage is not sufficient.
 
Maybe I said it wrong.

If one overwaters the entire pot because the shallow roots go dry, deeper in the pot the soil never has an opportunity to dry out. Regardless of how good the drainage is, the soil will retain some water.
 
i agree with sansoo, it doesn't matter if you have really good drainage, if the roots aren't big enough for the pot the soil will retain moisture.

but, you should always soak your plants too, there are buildups that can happen in soil when plants are watered "just enough" that will negatively affect the plants.

expert;) potawie is right, the more often you can water your plants the better, it gives them fresh nutrients and oxygen everytime you water

similar basis on why hydroponics work so well, in most hydro settings the oxygen to the roots is phenomenal, the roots are misted or soaked with nutrients in a timed fashion and allowed to dry and get oxygen, they're never getting a buildup b/c they're not submerged for long periods of time in anything stagnant. And they're utilizing the nutrients better b/c they can get nutrients more often, without worry of burning up b/c it's always just enough with the mist or soak, then dry period again, not just sitting around it a pot full of nutes. Bascially you want to be able to Water often, dry often, to recreate this as best as we can in a non-hydro setting with pots, we do this:

1. have soil that drains well, whatever your favorite brand potting mix cut it with vermiculite and perlite, 1part verm, 1part per, (arguably)4-6parts premium potting soil
2. Wait until you are rootbound before potting up, and go gradual. I went from a seedling starter, to 8oz cup, to 1 gallon pot, to 4 gallon pot, and i was very well root bound when i did this
3.wait until your plants start to wilt before watering. these are tough mo-fo's a little wilting not only won't hurt them but is good for them, it's also a great way to judge if your soil is dry enough, no fancy equipment needed
4. Water HEAVY when you water: Over-watering usually comes from watering too often NOT too much at once so if steps 1-3 are done you will be UNABLE to over water, it will not happen. Soaking will flush anything bad out of your soil. My one gallon pots get about a quart of water and my 4 gallon pots get shy of a gallon of water.

Even with this heavy soaking, b/c i follow these steps, my plants are begging for water every 2-4 days during hottest part of year and every 5 to 6 days at the moment(by begging i mean wilting badly) but 30 min or so after watering, they are beautiful healthy plants again. So i use liquid nutes mixed in my water, and i nute them with EVERY watering, all season long i have not had a single issue other than aphids which is unrelated. And like i said above my tabasco is almost 8 feet tall with well over 200 peppers on it, all my other plants are doing pretty well too. why take advice from a newbie poster? i've read 1,000 times what i've posted on here, and this is pretty unanimous way of thinking TheHotPepper really has a LOT of guys that are nice and willing to help, and i'm glad to call it my pepper home
 
FadeToBlack said:
This is a subject I find very confusing. What about plants that you plant right in the garden that have an unlimited amount of space for roots? I have 2 green pepper plants I put right into the ground that have grew faster and larger than all the other I have in containers. I would think being put in the garden would be like a huge container?
Click to expand...

your right, it is like a huge container. you may have had better luck with garden instead of pots due to the reasons listed above. it depends on how your pots were watered/size of pots/drainage of soil. in your case your garden may have been a better environment, i haven't read as much on ground planted plants but i would imagine same rules apply, you want good soil that drains well, and wait till they wilt to water them....but like i said i don't know much about ground plants....i stick with the pots seems easier/better
 
hotenuff4u said:
i agree with sansoo, it doesn't matter if you have really good drainage, if the roots aren't big enough for the pot the soil will retain moisture.

but, you should always soak your plants too, there are buildups that can happen in soil when plants are watered "just enough" that will negatively affect the plants.

expert;) potawie is right, the more often you can water your plants the better, it gives them fresh nutrients and oxygen everytime you water

similar basis on why hydroponics work so well, in most hydro settings the oxygen to the roots is phenomenal, the roots are misted or soaked with nutrients in a timed fashion and allowed to dry and get oxygen, they're never getting a buildup b/c they're not submerged for long periods of time in anything stagnant. And they're utilizing the nutrients better b/c they can get nutrients more often, without worry of burning up b/c it's always just enough with the mist or soak, then dry period again, not just sitting around it a pot full of nutes. Bascially you want to be able to Water often, dry often, to recreate this as best as we can in a non-hydro setting with pots, we do this:

1. have soil that drains well, whatever your favorite brand potting mix cut it with vermiculite and perlite, 1part verm, 1part per, (arguably)4-6parts premium potting soil
2. Wait until you are rootbound before potting up, and go gradual. I went from a seedling starter, to 8oz cup, to 1 gallon pot, to 4 gallon pot, and i was very well root bound when i did this
3.wait until your plants start to wilt before watering. these are tough mo-fo's a little wilting not only won't hurt them but is good for them, it's also a great way to judge if your soil is dry enough, no fancy equipment needed
4. Water HEAVY when you water: Over-watering usually comes from watering too often NOT too much at once so if steps 1-3 are done you will be UNABLE to over water, it will not happen. Soaking will flush anything bad out of your soil. My one gallon pots get about a quart of water and my 4 gallon pots get shy of a gallon of water.

Even with this heavy soaking, b/c i follow these steps, my plants are begging for water every 2-4 days during hottest part of year and every 5 to 6 days at the moment(by begging i mean wilting badly) but 30 min or so after watering, they are beautiful healthy plants again. So i use liquid nutes mixed in my water, and i nute them with EVERY watering, all season long i have not had a single issue other than aphids which is unrelated. And like i said above my tabasco is almost 8 feet tall with well over 200 peppers on it, all my other plants are doing pretty well too. why take advice from a newbie poster? i've read 1,000 times what i've posted on here, and this is pretty unanimous way of thinking TheHotPepper really has a LOT of guys that are nice and willing to help, and i'm glad to call it my pepper home
Click to expand...

I agree with what you are saying but as was stated earlier,that a smaller plant in a larger pot would cause soggy and smelly soil, if you are getting smelly soil, it is often due to lack of drainage from the pot, or the roots rotting which can be caused by excess water.

And also just becasue someone is new on here does not mean they don't have any experience growing.
 
rds040800 said:
I agree with what you are saying but as was stated earlier,that a smaller plant in a larger pot would cause soggy and smelly soil, if you are getting smelly soil, it is often due to lack of drainage from the pot, or the roots rotting which can be caused by excess water.

And also just becasue someone is new on here does not mean they don't have any experience growing.
Click to expand...

i appreciate the recognition, i always feel i need to end anything i say in "i know i'm a newbie" or "haven't been on here long", lol try to be a little humble, i know there are some people on here that have some SICK knowledge on this stuff
 
I agree and the knowledge here is not just around growing peppers, but a vast array of things. And that is what makes it great to be involved.
 
I got into trouble with several little plants this year that went into 5 gallon buckets, which are 14" tall. But the longest of the roots only reached down 3 or 4 inches. I drilled an abundance of holes in the bottom to ensure drainage.

At first I watered deeply so water drained out from the bottom - the drainage was excellent. But if I allowed all the soil in the bucket to dry like I should, then the little plant living at the top with its shallow roots would almost die. But if I watered deeply every time the little plant needed it, I was over watering the overall soil and it wouldn't dry out.

So I tried watering just enough for the plant size, not the bucket size.

The result was that the water would drain from the root portion of the bucket and slowly work its way down thru the bucket and adsorb into the deeper soil. Not much, if any, would drain from the bottom.

That would be fine if roots were there to utilize the water, and if I gave it time to dry out. But in order to keep the little plant watered correctly, I would again have to water sooner than the deeper soil was ready to accept.

After the plant died despite all my babying, I dumped everything and found very unhealthy soil at the bottom that was too wet and smelly.

Now it may be that if I shallow-watered the little plant from the beginning, and never deep-watered, there would not have been the water accumulation in the first place. I don't know, but that would seem to take more skill to accomplish.

After cleaning the bucket I put a fresh batch of the same soil mixture into the bucket, but this time a large plant with a large root ball. Now I was able to adhere to the deep-water/dry cycle with no further problems.

The point of all my babbling here is that the plant size should be in harmony with the pot size so that roots and soil are both on the same page on the cycle.
 
SanSoo said:
...I drilled an abundance of holes in the bottom to ensure drainage.

At first I watered deeply so water drained out from the bottom - the drainage was excellent. But if I allowed all the soil in the bucket to dry like I should, then the little plant living at the top with its shallow roots would almost die. But if I watered deeply every time the little plant needed it, I was over watering the overall soil and it wouldn't dry out.

So I tried watering just enough for the plant size, not the bucket size.

The result was that the water would drain from the root portion of the bucket and slowly work its way down thru the bucket and adsorb into the deeper soil. Not much, if any, would drain from the bottom.

That would be fine if roots were there to utilize the water, and if I gave it time to dry out. But in order to keep the little plant watered correctly, I would again have to water sooner than the deeper soil was ready to accept.

After the plant died despite all my babying, I dumped everything and found very unhealthy soil at the bottom that was too wet and smelly.

Now it may be that if I shallow-watered the little plant from the beginning, and never deep-watered, there would not have been the water accumulation in the first place. I don't know, but that would seem to take more skill to accomplish.

After cleaning the bucket I put a fresh batch of the same soil mixture into the bucket, but this time a large plant with a large root ball. Now I was able to adhere to the deep-water/dry cycle with no further problems.

The point of all my babbling here is that the plant size should be in harmony with the pot size so that roots and soil are both on the same page on the cycle.
Click to expand...

What you described above is called a perched water table. A growing medium holds a certain amount of water regardless of the container size. For example, say soil X has a 2" perched water table. If you filled a 1 and 5 gallon container with that soil, watered them until water ran out the bottom, and allowed time for the excess water to drain, they would both have 2" inches of perched water at the bottom of the container. This has to do with the properties of the materials used, physics, and probably chemistry. I am certainly not well educated on this subject but if you are curious I would suggest checking out some Bonsai forums. They have a strong understanding of this because they deal with such shallow containers. From the little I have read, their ideal mix hovers right at the zero perched water table boundary.
Here is an article that touches on the topic...
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery.../physical_properties/physical_properties.html
 
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