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"Martin Brown" wrote in message ... In message , Franz Heymann writes "Mike Lyle" wrote in message . com... [snip] I'd also guess (but it's only a guess) 40 cm is too big a pot: best way is the old rule of patiently going up one size at a time, and only when the roots have definitely reached the outside of the old pot, so that any water you give will immediately go to the plant, rather than hang about going stagnant. (Some people, in this group notably Franz, ignore this rule without ill effect; but they have a watering regime to suit.) That is an urban legend. If there were any truth in it, all plants planted in the open ground, which is an infinite sized pot for practical purposes, should fail. That isn't true though. The ground has usually has pretty good drainage. A plant stuck in a pot has to rely on all the extra water escaping from a small hole in the bottom of the pot. My pots all do have adequate drainage holes in the bottom, and I have never noticed any waterlogging in them. You are not addressing my point, which was that all this talk of overpotting a small plant has no basis.. Block the hole and you have stagnant water and few living things can tolerate HS (it is more poisonous than HCN). I was not discussing growing a plant in an undrained pot. {:-(( If you look back, you will see that my argument is concerned with the old wives' tale that putting a small plant in too large a pot is bad for it. I stick to my contention that that is nonsense. I grow cacti and water them like normal house plants in mid-summer but they are planted in a very free draining grit with a small amount of compost so they dry out between waterings. That is good practice for growing cacti.. So how does that affect my argument about the relative sizes of the plant and its pot? I planted a very young Acer palmatum atropurpureum directly in a 45 cm pot about eight years ago and have never repotted it. It thrives. I suspect you are somewhat meagre with the watering. The right adjectives would be "lazy" and "irregular", not "meagre". {:-)) Then it will be OK. Most Japanese acers grow on mountainsides and expect to be dry at the roots from time to time. Where I live at the moment I am having to tip water out of trays under pots containing small trees. I am supposed to be watering them for a neighbour but we had 100mm of rain in the last two days! What on earth are these trays doing under the pots? Why don't you suggest to the neighbour that they are probably doing more harm than good? Pots are supposed to drain off excess water freely. Mine stand on open paving, on detachable feet, to raise them above the surface. Franz |
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