Originally Posted by echinosum

If it was a container grown plant, and became rootbound, and you did not tease out the roots, it is very difficult for water to get into the rootball, and very difficult for roots to get out of the rootball into the surrounding soil to find water. Except for a few plants that hate their roots being interfered with, it is essential to tease out the roots of container grown plants when planting them out. Even knowing this, I've still had plants die on me because they remained rootbound because I didn't tease out the roots thoroughly enough.