When putting potted plants in the ground in the spring, don’t be afraid to get tough with rootbound specimens.
You’ll be doing them a favor.
Steve Smith at Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, which is hosting a Spring Faire on Saturday, puts it like this in his latest “Whistling Gardener” column:
The lion’s share of plants that are bought from a nursery are grown in containers. These plants were never grown in real dirt on a farm, but rather have spent their entire lives in a pot, growing in a mix of bark, pumice, sand, peat moss and compost and artificially fed with either natural or synthetic fertilizers. …
If you encounter plants with too many roots — what we call being rootbound in the trade — then you have to take drastic action. Ornamental grasses and many perennials are notorious for being rootbound. Some shrubs and trees can also end up in the same condition. The first thing I do is soak the plant thoroughly in a bucket of water for a few minutes. Then after removing the plant from the pot, I take a knife or even an old saw and cut off the bottom inch or two of the root system. You will have what looks like a root pancake. Just throw it away and keep working. Next, rough up the edges of the root ball with a small cultivating fork so that it no longer resembles the size or shape of the pot it was growing in. Finally, take the knife or saw and score down the sides of the root ball, making cuts an inch deep and a few inches apart. Go all around the ball. Now you can put your new plant in the hole and finish the job.
This is brilliant advice, I think.
I’ve found the best tool for slicing off root pancakes is a hori hori.
While most hori hori — Japanese soil knives — seem scary-sharp and tricky to use, I found the perfect one at Smith &Speed on Orcas Island, the greatest garden tool shop in the universe.
While this tool has proven truly amazing for weeding, I recently used it to easily saw the rootbound bottoms off two 3-gallon rootbound boxwoods. Then I used it to score the sides as Smith suggests.
If you’re timid about hacking rootbound plants, get this tool, called the Ultimate Hori Hori. It’s $55, which is a lot, but it’s a worthy investment. Unlike other hori horis, it features a special hilt — a piece of metal in between the handle and the blade — that gives you more leverage and makes you more likely to slice roots instead of your fingers.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
