MsDoe - Some take a laissez faire approach to gardening, and that's fine - there should be no judgment re how others order their priorities. Others' priorities allow some time to learn and implement practices that allow their plantings much greater opportunity to realize a greater share of their genetic potential. All plants (other than mutants) are
capable of becoming beautiful specimens. Since the grower is a potted plants only provider, the only thing prohibiting the plant from realizing ALL of its potential is the gardener. That's our job - figure out what's limiting our plants and eliminate the limitation. What else is there? Those who want to increase their proficiency at container gardening/ rearing houseplants probably have a stronger nurturing bone, and get a greater sense of self-satisfaction for their efforts on behalf of their green friends. If this thread gains some popularity, I promise the participants will learn how to significantly improve the effort:results ratio. I know this because I've been overseeing a similar thread on another site that's been active for 15 years and has over 7,000 contributions to it and still going strong. In order to get a sense of how much attention thread has generated, do a quick google search using the search words
5-1-1 mix and note the number of hits.
The medium you use in a planting will almost always have more impact on how much of their potential your plantings can/will realize. Sunlight is very important, but you either can or cannot move plants to the most appropriate light conditions. Once a planting is established, you're stuck with the medium until it's repotted. I'd guess that about 90% of the issues for which people come here seeking remedial advice are related directly to poor root health caused by a combination of a poor medium and a heavy hand on the watering can. I've helped thousands of growers rid themselves of the limitations caused by the dastardly duo of poor soil/ over-watering which limits roots' ability to function normally and/or wrecks root health.
As far as repotting goes (not potting up - that's different), it has a remarkable rejuvenating effect. I've seen advice repeatedly that repotting is bad and it kills the fine root hairs the plant needs to ...... horsefeathers! What REALLY kills fine roots is water-logged media and the advice to 'water when the top inch or two of the medium is dry. In a 10" deep pot, where the top 2" of medium is dry, the lower 6" can be fully, 100%, totally saturated. That means that 60% of the soil is wasteland. It cannot support root growth and it severely limits root function ...... and this is supposed to be the point at which you should water? What's important is the moisture level at the BOTTOM of the pot.
The time to water is when a full handful of soil from near the bottom of of the pot, when squeezed very tightly in your hand, yields a few drops of water, and crumbles as soon as you open your hand. Water uptake is most efficient when the soil is moist or damp, and least efficient where it is dry or saturated; this because dry soil has no water and soggy soil has no air (O2) to fuel the roots' ability to take up water/nutrients and move them around the plant. Example: It's known that Ca(lcium), a major component of cell walls) must be in the nutrient stream at all times if cells/tissue are to form normally. Saturated media limits Ca uptake, so a high % of the symptom of deformed leaves in container plantings is due to a culturally induced Ca deficiency.
When you hold a handful of container media in your hand and see it is made of a very high % of fine particles, odds are extremely high it will be very limiting if you water correctly (flush the soil when you water). If you don't water correctly (instead, you water in sips to skirt potential over-watering) you ensure the dissolved solids (salts) in tapwater and fertilizer solutions remain in the medium, which brings it's own set of issues related to decreasing ability to take up water as the salt level of the soil increases.
Growing well is a holistic adventure, and not all things are as they seem. One thing is certain though, there are no healthy plants with unhealthy root systems.
As far as repotting goes, there is a difference between repotting and potting up. Root congestion (rootbound) becomes limiting/ stressful about the time the root/ soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact. From that point forward, the limitations increase in direct relation to the degree of congestion. Potting up absolutely ensures a large fraction of the limitations imposed by root congestion remain when the up-potting is done. Repotting, which includes bare rooting (or nearly so), pruning roots, and a change of growing medium, ensures ALL limitations associated with root congestion are removed until such time root growth progresses to the stage the root/ soil mass can again be lifted from the pot intact. The only way to skip repotting and not be forced to live with the limitations of root congestion is to pot up
before the congestion gets to the stage where root/soil mass remains intact when lifted from the pot.
The most vigorous tissues on a plant are found at the root to shoot transition zone. Any time you cut a plant back nearer to the transition zone, it has a strong rejuvenating effect on the plant - very strong. Typically, I repot a plant and within 1-2 weeks it's pushing new growth. This tells us absolutely the root system has recovered to the degree it can actually support more top growth. Not only that, if all else is equal, in spite of losing the growth that would have occurred during the recovery period, by the end of the growth cycle the repotted plant will be much larger and healthier than the plant potted up.
Al
