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I Learned Something Yesterday

AlabamaJack

AlabamaJack

eXtreme
I have noticed that several of my pepper plants are much larger than some of the others and was wondering why...I think I finally figured it out...I have approximately 15-20 Trinidad Scorpions growing and some are stunted and the leaves are very yellow looking...almost a varigated look to them...

My largest scorpion plant is about 4' tall and very sturdy, dark green and full of buds/flowers and is setting fruit....I went to move it yesterday and guess what....the roots of the plant have grown out of the container and into the soil beneath it. It was hard to move but I pulled on it until I heard some snapping and I could feel the roots breaking...too late, I moved it and looked at the bottom of the pot....there were 6 or 7 roots that had grwon out of the holes in the bottom of the container and were about 6" long where they broke...the roots coming out of the bottom of the pot were about an eight of an inch in diameter...This plant has not been moved in 4 months...

I won't move any of my other big plants in this area...the area where these healthy plants are is the wettest part of my yard...

Any one else have roots growing out of the bottom of their containers?
 
Mine often grow into the ground too when rootbound. Some times I'll bury the pot an inch or so into the ground and the roots will get even bigger but usually I repot these into larger containers.
 
as long as the roots get into the ground, do you think this will hurt the growth of the plant...the roots growing out of the bottom of the containers looked like "main" roots to me...I am just hoping moving the plant won't kill it...
 
Don't worry about killing them AJ, these roots are just searching for water in the ground. They will grow back quickly
 
Never happened to me before. As you know I moved all of my plants to the garden about two weeks ago and not a single one did that. It simply shows that your plants are über-healthy now and I gotta second what Potawie said, they'll regrow soon!
 
well, I suppose my question then becomes do I need to worry about them being root bound?...it is too late in the season for me to transplant to bigger pots so I am kinda stuck with them where they are...

I just won't move any more of them....I have about four 7 Pots next to this one that are just as big and healthy and I am assuming they have roots in the ground too...I won't be moving them I don't think...

thanks for your feedback my friends...
 
Don't worry too much about them being rootbound this time of year. Most of my plants are rootbound now and they just need to be watered more often.
 
AJ,

This encourages me to put my containers in the ground even more. Once I get down about eight-ten inches, the dirt is better, though still needs some work. But it would less trouble watering them, as the sides would stay a lot cooler.

Mike
 
You know Mike...since this happened yesterday, I have been thinking about putting my containers about an inch or two in the ground and maybe even cutting the bottoms out or at least increasing the size openings in the bottoms to allow the roots to grow on down...and as you say the containers would make "sideboards" for the watering process...the plants I am going to try and grow thru the winter will be transplanted into at least 7 gallon and maybe 10 gallon containers next February...I will grow them as much as I can until December, cut them back, transplant them into smaller containers first tho...
 
Oh AJ, if ya use the fiber pots I do, they will actually decompose eventually if ya planted the pot. Trippy, eh?

Otherwise, I think they are rated for about a year or so outdoors.
 
thats really interesting a.j have none of my chili plants on soil or grass but i have some toms in grow bags and the healthy ones roots have gone through the bottom of the bag straight into the grass/soil and just went to move them and hundreds of small roots going in..no wonder they look so healthy lol :)
 
Interesting that you mention pots in this way AJ. I have just planted some plants out in the yard, and am using pots with the bottoms cut out to keep the mulch away from the stem. Also, as you say, aids in directing the water to the right spot.

pots.jpg
 
thats great RS...I am going to do this next year...
 
They often call this ring culture and its like creating a personal raised bed for each plant. This technique works great, but for me I can only do this with a few plants since I like to move them around as the sun changes over the growing season and many plants will need to go into the greenhouse for the fall.
Here's one of my big ones growing in a half barrel with no bottom

 
Very interesting. Wonder if using those 16 oz cups and doing the same thing, cutting the bottom off and planting them, could work as well. More experiments for next year I guess.
 
millworkman said:
Very interesting. Wonder if using those 16 oz cups and doing the same thing, cutting the bottom off and planting them, could work as well. More experiments for next year I guess.
Click to expand...

I had a few plants that I moved outside to harden alongside the larger plants in the soil -- I forgot to move them and the roots did come out of the 16oz cups so yes that would work
 
Fascinating. I don't have any useful comments as a noob, but I have noticed two things in my first year:

1) the roots grow faster than you'd imagine
2) some very small plants had an incredible growth spurt after moving them to larger containers. However, they are not the first to flower, probably because they have invested their energy to improve their root system?

I think this technique is great if you can leave your plants outdoors in winter (or don't want to move them around), but I really want to save the best plants and put them in the attic where there is natural light and never temps below 10°C.
 
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