The reason for messing with them right away is that now is the proper repotting
time for tropicals in SW Ohio.
I was told by several local folks that now is the perfect time, nights in the
70? F range, days in the upper 80? range.
There was already new growth on the plant. It sat for almost two weeks in its
present spot before I worked on it.
I would never root prune a plant that I didn't think could take it.
This particular buttonwood was in a 10" diameter plastic pot with a depth of
about 10". The soil it was in looked like about what the "Miracle-Gro" potting
mix my annuals are (petunias, impatiens, marigolds, verbena; all from seed)
looks like at the end of the summer. It is now in a drum pot, 12" diameter and
5" deep. There were no roots cut greater than a "Dum-Dum" lollipop stick
(1/8"). The reason for the one-sided rootage, was the elongated stump that was
buried. I hope to encourage new roots on the other side before the next repot.
Steve Parr - Cincinnati, Ohio -
USDA Zone 6
"Now who's respon... I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my
person"
Foghorn Leghorn
That said, I have more to say. Why do people bring
home new plants and mess with them right away? The
plant may be stressed by the move. You don't know how
it will react to where you place the plant. So how do
you know which thing affected the plant the most?
snipped
--- Steve Parr wrote:
I recently picked up my first buttonwood at the MABA
convention in Cincinnati
earlier this month. This past weekend I repotted it
into a large training pot
from a plastic flowerpot. The new mix consisted of
probably 3 parts pine bark,
2 parts 1/8" haydite, 1 parts 1/8" grit, 1 part coir
(a byproduct of coconut
production), and a couple of handfuls of milled
sphagnum peat (used for seed
starting, not the dry brown stuff) a different mix
from what I normally use.
The tips of the branches seem to almost wilting, not
quite though, just limp.
The leaves are still upright in respect to the stem,
but the stem droops
Is it normal for buttonwood to resent repotting and
medium root pruning? By
medium, I mean removal of maybe 1/3 to 3/8 of the
root ball (there is still a
good size root ball of fine feeder roots, a bit one
sided, but still quite
reasonably sized).
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