Two of my plants are heavy with pods, which I'm trying to baby into ripening - taking them outside when the weather is nice, bring them inside when it's not. At any rate, I really need to repot them, but was wanting to wait until the pods were harvested, then prune the top and bottom well before heading into the winter. One plant in particular, however, is kind of crying out to be repotted now, and is loaded with pods. Is there anything I should be aware of when repotting - anything in particular to be careful of, watch out for, etc?
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Repotting Plant w/Pods
- Thread starter geeme
- Start date
If you pot it UP w/o disturbing the roots it should hang onto its pods.
Never heard the phrase before. "Potting UP" meaning....?
I'm guessing you mean:
Loosen dirt around outer edge
Use what I'm going to call a post-hole approach: Put both hands into dirt along outer edges, pulling it out of the pot it's in from the bottom, without turning it upside down, ensuring to keep as much of the dirt intact around the roots as possible
Put into new pot
That?
Hmm. Scary stuff.
I'm guessing you mean:
Loosen dirt around outer edge
Use what I'm going to call a post-hole approach: Put both hands into dirt along outer edges, pulling it out of the pot it's in from the bottom, without turning it upside down, ensuring to keep as much of the dirt intact around the roots as possible
Put into new pot
That?
Hmm. Scary stuff.
Potting up is just moving the plant to a larger pot with new medium below and surrounding the root ball. I wouldn't ram my hands in the pot though; you'll damage some roots that way. I usually just slightly flex the pot if plastic, grab it by the base of the plant and it lifts right out.
Like this:
Like this:
Okay, started thinking about the evidence a bit more - why what is wrong with it is wrong with it. (Is that enough redundancy?) And realized it's probably the freakin' squirrels. Or chipmunks. Or both. In other words, it doesn't really need to be repotted, it just needs to be shored up. So I went and disturbed it, and found that, sure enough, that although the pot appeared to have plenty-o' dirt, it really didn't. In digging to find a place to hide their goodies, the rodents had significantly loosened the dirt that was in there, so it needed more, and it needed to be compacted down. I probably got another 5 cups of dirt into the pot, and it's only a 10" pot. Freakin' rodents.
So if it drops its pods, that's just what will happen. I'm hoping that if the rodents digging in the pot didn't make it drop them, that my messing around with it won't, either. It's outside in the rain right now, so hopefully it will like the rainwater enough to forgive me!
So if it drops its pods, that's just what will happen. I'm hoping that if the rodents digging in the pot didn't make it drop them, that my messing around with it won't, either. It's outside in the rain right now, so hopefully it will like the rainwater enough to forgive me!
Top dressing with more dirt shouldn't disturb the plat at all.
Ceramic pots are usually more tapered that the plastic ones and a good thump is usually all that is required to lift it out by its trunk.
Ceramic pots are usually more tapered that the plastic ones and a good thump is usually all that is required to lift it out by its trunk.
Didn't just slap more dirt on top, but first tested to see if that was really the prob - stuck my hands down around the perimeter, and pushed the dirt towards the stem all the way around. Seriously, the dirt was within 1/4" of the rim before I did that - clearly it was very, very loose inside the pot. A little voice inside my head says to pull all the pods, give it a good pruning, and repot now - who knows what the little buggers have managed to bury in there that I haven't found yet?
If its going to be an ongoing problem and you want to stop them you could put a lid on the pot of wire mesh - something you can mould around the trunk without damaging it. Or stick a top dressing of woodchips or gravel ontop that they wouldn't want to dig through. Don't get sqirrel or chipmunk problems where I live in Australia, someone probably knows more about them.
You could just keep lumping more dirt on it but if they keep coming back to dig around in there they could damage the roots and retard your plant's growth. You could even get a cat
and rain death upon them.
You could just keep lumping more dirt on it but if they keep coming back to dig around in there they could damage the roots and retard your plant's growth. You could even get a cat
and rain death upon them.I ended up a while back putting something called Critter Rid on the top layer, and that stopped the digging. Squirrels and chipmunks just laugh at stuff like gravel and wood chips. Critter Rid is mostly capsaicin. Although I did put quite a bit more dirt in there at the time, I guess I didn't realize quite how deeply they had loosened things up - I usually make a point to pack down the dirt really well, so I'm kind of scratching my head as to how I missed on this so badly. At any rate, the Critter Rid stuff kind of stinks, and I definitely want to repot the plants without it before I permanently bring them indoors for the winter. But I like the wire mesh idea, and will definitely add that next grow season. Notably, though, it hasn't been a problem at all until the fall, when the buggers are busy trying to store their winter food supply.
I have to laugh at the idea of a cat raining death on all the squirrels and chipmunks around here. We do have a cat, but we keep it indoors, as it is truly a scaredy-cat. I think a squirrel would terrify her. But that said, there are actually quite a few cats in our neighborhood, out at all times of day and night. I think the squirrels and chipmunks have the cats figured out, though, as there are way more of them than there are cats.
Yeah, only one thing though. I started by sprinkling "a bit" on the dirt, and that didn't stop the digging. So I dumped at least 1/4" on the surface, and that did the trick. I have to be careful when moving the pots in and out of the house, of course. But the thing I'm wondering about - although the plants produce capsaicin, can it still hurt them to be soaking the stuff up through their roots? I'm still top-watering at this point, and haven't noticed a significant decline in the plants since doing that, but it still makes me wonder. The cayenne pods seem to have stopped growing after only about 5", but is that because of the weather, the capsaicin on the dirt, or both? Although I do leave them outside when the weather remains above 50F, I bring them inside if it gets colder, so am not sure the weather alone would be doing that, but it could. Hm. Kind of wish I knew everything there was to know.... But guess then I'd be God, and that ain't happenin'!
Guess I should also point out that I still have newly-developed pods, it's just the longest have only gotten about 5" - the rest are still growing at this point. The pods earlier in the season were between 8" and 10".
Someone on here would know more but I have read about the plants responding the amount of hours of daylight.
You are in northern hemisphere I guess?? its past the Autumn equinox so the days will be getting shorter very rapidly now, and then near to the Winter solstice (Dec 22) they will slow down and start to get longer again. Your plant is getting less good stuff from the temperature and the amount of light and so the pods are reflecting that.
It's the opposite for me in southern hemisphere but I definitely planted my seeds too late on 10/10/10, beginner's mistake, and they are still tiny seedlings. Our weather has been so hot this year I could have easily started them four weeks earlier.
Chilli plants would have to be adapted to the fruit falling and leaking capsaicin onto their roots, beacuse this would happen in the wild.
You are in northern hemisphere I guess?? its past the Autumn equinox so the days will be getting shorter very rapidly now, and then near to the Winter solstice (Dec 22) they will slow down and start to get longer again. Your plant is getting less good stuff from the temperature and the amount of light and so the pods are reflecting that.
It's the opposite for me in southern hemisphere but I definitely planted my seeds too late on 10/10/10, beginner's mistake, and they are still tiny seedlings. Our weather has been so hot this year I could have easily started them four weeks earlier.
Chilli plants would have to be adapted to the fruit falling and leaking capsaicin onto their roots, beacuse this would happen in the wild.
Good point about what would happen in the wild.
Yep, Northern hemisphere. I am bringing the plants inside when the temps get too chilly, anything below 50F definitely, and most often below 55F as well. And the good news about being in pots is that I have more control over how much sun they get while they're outside - they sat on my back porch all summer, but now I put them wherever shadows don't hit throughout the day. Can't control the overall amount of sun, of course, but at least I can maximize what's available. Kind of makes me feel like a plant slave - where do you want to be today, honey?
In this area, starting seedlings indoors in the January/February timeframe works best - but you can't take them outside until May/June, or a rare day in April. That's generally true for all garden plants in this area, not just peppers. Most newbies, though, don't think about starting seeds until the weather warms up - it's hard to make yourself think about starting seeds when there are a couple feet of snow on the ground outside.
Yep, Northern hemisphere. I am bringing the plants inside when the temps get too chilly, anything below 50F definitely, and most often below 55F as well. And the good news about being in pots is that I have more control over how much sun they get while they're outside - they sat on my back porch all summer, but now I put them wherever shadows don't hit throughout the day. Can't control the overall amount of sun, of course, but at least I can maximize what's available. Kind of makes me feel like a plant slave - where do you want to be today, honey?
In this area, starting seedlings indoors in the January/February timeframe works best - but you can't take them outside until May/June, or a rare day in April. That's generally true for all garden plants in this area, not just peppers. Most newbies, though, don't think about starting seeds until the weather warms up - it's hard to make yourself think about starting seeds when there are a couple feet of snow on the ground outside.