I am now growing some young zonal pelargoniums- and a few scented-leaved,
all indoors in pots. On re-reading the cultivation info for these plants I
see different suppliers saying the same thing- pot these young plants (rooted
cuttings) in a 9cm pot to begin with and then 5-6 weeks later repot into a
pot that is 2 sizes bigger. I didn't have enough small pots when some of
these plants arrived so i used some of the larger size pots (4-5") but now I
do have some more small pots. I'm wondering two things:

1] Do I need to take the recent arrivals that went into larger pots but that
do not seem to be quite as lively as the ones that went into the small pots-
and repot them into small pots for a while, or can I leave them and hope they
will not fare too badly from being somewhat "overpotted"?- and-

2] Why is it necessary to put these small plants into small pots at first if
they are to be moved into bigger pots only a few weeks later? This seems
counter-intuitive to me, since in the wild, and even in the garden, plants
all go into the biggest pot imaginable- the ground- and presumably do not
suffer as a result. I'd really like to understand this.

Joe B. remove composer for email

'Joe',

The idea is not to overpot the geranium family in order to ensure that
they do not produce too much foliage at the expense of flowers.

Best to treat them as recommended by the supplier(s), but you may
consider leaving one in a bigger pot to test the over-potting theory.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.



"Joe B" wrote in message
. com...
I am now growing some young zonal pelargoniums- and a few
scented-leaved,
all indoors in pots. On re-reading the cultivation info for these
plants I
see different suppliers saying the same thing- pot these young plants
(rooted
cuttings) in a 9cm pot to begin with and then 5-6 weeks later repot
into a
pot that is 2 sizes bigger. I didn't have enough small pots when some
of
these plants arrived so i used some of the larger size pots (4-5") but
now I
do have some more small pots. I'm wondering two things:

1] Do I need to take the recent arrivals that went into larger pots
but that
do not seem to be quite as lively as the ones that went into the small
pots-
and repot them into small pots for a while, or can I leave them and
hope they
will not fare too badly from being somewhat "overpotted"?- and-

2] Why is it necessary to put these small plants into small pots at
first if
they are to be moved into bigger pots only a few weeks later? This
seems
counter-intuitive to me, since in the wild, and even in the garden,
plants
all go into the biggest pot imaginable- the ground- and presumably do
not
suffer as a result. I'd really like to understand this.

Joe B. remove composer for email

" Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
: 'Joe',
:
: The idea is not to overpot the geranium family in order to ensure that
: they do not produce too much foliage at the expense of flowers.
:
: Best to treat them as recommended by the supplier(s), but you may
: consider leaving one in a bigger pot to test the over-potting theory.
:
: Regards,
: Emrys Davies.
:
Does this apply to begonias too?

K

Joe B wrote in message .com...
[...]
2] Why is it necessary to put these small plants into small pots at first if
they are to be moved into bigger pots only a few weeks later? This seems
counter-intuitive to me, since in the wild, and even in the garden, plants
all go into the biggest pot imaginable- the ground- and presumably do not
suffer as a result. I'd really like to understand this.

It's about drainage: in the open ground water moves about, dragging in
oxygen, and has all sorts of other natural factors operating on it.
The way I've always understood it is that in the artifical environment
of a pot the water not being "tapped" by your plant becomes stagnant
and can rot the tips of the roots as they try to move outwards. The
effect is rather like that of overwatering. So you need just enough
volume for your plant to cope with at each stage of its development to
get a steady progression.

I tend to pot on when I first see the tip of a root peering out of one
of the drainage holes, but it's probably better to tip them out and
see if a fair few roots reach to the outside.

Your pelargoniums should recover fine, especially if you don't give
them too much water: they aren't thirsty types. I wouldn't put them
back into a smaller pot unless when you tip them out they show clear
signs of root damage: have the roots managed to grow out from the
original pot shape? If they have, just nurse them along. If they
haven't, I'd go back to the next size down for a while, and they may
be OK.

If I know so much, why do I keep getting it wrong? Ah, well...

Mike.