In article , nospam@stepheno
rme.freeserve.co.uk.nospam writes
On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 18:55:56 -0000, "David W.E. Roberts"
wrote:


Is it O.K. to bang it directly into a large pot, or should I pot it on in
progressively larger pots?

ISTR that flowering plants do better if potted on only when pot bound.

However if the lemon was planted in a border then it would be in umpteen
squillion megalitres of soil (how big is the earth anyway?) and would grow
O.K.

I am only a beginner here, so I do not know the right answer, but I
think I have heard only to repot when pot-bound for greater growth.
However I do agree with your reasoning, that this does not happen in
nature so why should we have to do this?

The difference in nature is that the surrounding soil is full of roots
of other plants, worms, bugs and so on - in other words, there's a lot
of activity in there. In a pot, you have a heap of soil in which nothing
much is happening - more likely to get stagnant, waterlogged or
whatever. I don't know if this is the reason, but its the only reasoning
I could work out.

There is another effect, which is that plants have two methods or
increasing themselves - vegetatively (by growing large, or by throwing
out plantlets) or sexually, by producing flowers. Flowers are more
effort, so the tendency for many perennial plants is to emphasise
vegetative growth when there's plenty of space and food, and emphasise
flower growth when space and food is running out, and there may be a
need to cast seeds to colonise a new site. Therefore, many plants will
flower better if they are pot bound and not over-fed.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm