Hi y'all,

My Marginata has been in a small'ish 4" pot for about a year now and very healthy. But I suspected it might need a repotting and confirmed it after pulling it out of the pot and saw the roots circling the bottom the pot about 6 circuits around and no soil covering it... I wish I took a picture. (it's the kind of plastic pot that is domed on the bottom). So I went ahead and repotted into a 5.5" ceramic. I made sure to make a small hill with the new soil at the bottom of the new pot so the it would hopefully fill in that hollow space.
I'm just wondering if I did the right thing or if I should have instead teased those roots loose or cut some back?

Thanks!

Hey,

You'll get different answers on something like this.
Most of them right, it really depends on what works for you.

Your plant should be fine.

I'm a fan of cutting off root layers (someone here who does the same, calls them pancakes, hacks them off but I'm not sure who to mention) once they've pushed out the soil and are just coiling. Tease out what you have left and re-pot. They store a lot of energy in their stem and can typically pull through.

Others go for a less violent approach and have beautiful plants also, so see what works for you.

Pictures always help, even afterwards.

Let us know how it goes. Well, I hope! It sounds like it will be OK on this small scale and short amount of time. I don't think the roots would have had time to get woody, which is where I think the problems occur. Burying old woody roots is where the risk of rotting occurs, from what I've seen.

I like to refer to the different techniques as potting-up and repotting. What you describe doing is what I would refer to as potting-up.

Thank you guys!
Here's a picture of the finished product.
So far so good.
Guess I'll keep an eye on it over the next couple weeks.

So cute! Does the new pot have a hole in the bottom?

That looks awesome.

Curious about drainage also, it's on wood but I'm not seeing a tray.

Yup, there is a drainage hole.
I had it sitting on a plate for the first few days after watering to prevent any water damage to the wood, and then I took it away once it dried out a bit. (There was no matching tray so I just had it on a white plastic plate.. kinda ugly )

Plant looks great!
Yeah, I grew up hating my moms plastic trays. But you have to have something, or you'll be making the plant too dry to prevent wood damage. (Sorry Mom, you were right!)

Agree, if it's not causing a wet ring on the wood furniture, the plant is probably getting too dry.

If you have a thrift/used store around, there are often pretty mis-matched and slightly chipped dishes and plates that can make great saucers and cache pots.

BTW, your purple shamrocks in the background look great!

Oh, I missed the shamrocks. Yay. People absolutely RAVE about my purple shamrocks at work. Such an easy yet WOW plant.

And here I was always worrying about waterlogging!
Great tip on the thrift shops! I'll have to check out my local one.

That shamrock was gifted to my by my grandmother last year. She was having a hard time keeping it alive (she is 93 God bless her) and it was down to about 3-4 leaves by the time I got it. Now as you can see it's bursting! You can't see from the picture, but it's blooming like crazy too

Wow! To be doing anything at 93 is pretty amazing!

tryintogrow said: Yup, there is a drainage hole.
I had it sitting on a plate for the first few days after watering to prevent any water damage to the wood, and then I took it away once it dried out a bit. (There was no matching tray so I just had it on a white plastic plate.. kinda ugly )

Good.

When you have time check out thrift stores. I've found so many awesome small plates that work great as trays. Glazed ceramic and plastic with some of the most amazing patterns going back 60 years easy.

purpleinopp said: Agree, if it's not causing a wet ring on the wood furniture, the plant is probably getting too dry.

If you have a thrift/used store around, there are often pretty mis-matched and slightly chipped dishes and plates that can make great saucers and cache pots.

I'd check the table daily. Moisture levels in the soil can change day/night or because of weather.

Ruin it once and it's not coming back, been there many times. I'd suggest a tray no matter how ugly till something better comes along.

Reading down the thread, just saw this. Thrift shops are awesome.

Sound advice... thanks Humboldt!

tryintogrow said: Sound advice... thanks Humboldt!

:)

I'll see if I can round a few up for a picture.

Hey All,

So my Marginata started sprouting something out of the pot a couple days ago.


That's not gonna be another one of the same is it??
It looks nothing like it.
Any ideas?

Can't see it well but it's definitely not a Dracaena. I wonder if it's some kind of Oxalis.

Some random seedling.