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| Today I extricated my Annie Laurie Mc Donnell from the two outer pots I used to partially protect it from the sun. Apart from numerous slugs and a baby black widow, I also found that it had roots growing through the bottom hole. In the best of all worlds I should have had a 2-gallon pot to move it to, but of course no such thing was available. My husband took a 5-gallon pot, cut it horizontally in half and planted my little treasure in the bottom half. The pot is therefore no taller than a 1-gallon pot but of course the rose has a lot more soil around it. Does this have a chance of succeeding? This rose has tiny leaf buds (and I do mean tiny) so I know that it's doing its best. We used about half bagged soil and half native soil. Naturally I had used up all the worm castings yesterday which would have been a boon for this potted rose. Ingrid |
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| Course it will Ingrid. No need to worry and I especially like the fact that you have included some native soil (along with all that helpful micro-life) in with your potting mix. We often read that plants like to be potted on gradually rather than a tiny plant wallowing in a huge pot.....but truly, the opposite, of huge plants squashed into minuscule pots is far far worse. From what I gather, you also maintained the horizon levels in that the planting depth remains the same regardless of size of pot - always a good idea (I have actually killed plants by planting deeper than the original level or worse, raising the level in one go, by several (lethal) inches). So no worries. |
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| Sounds good to me! Once it fills up that space you could move it to a regular 5 gallon and then let it grow deeper. By cutting it in half you essentially made a 2.5 gallon pot, which I'm sure is what your thinking was all along! I'm so happy that yours is doing so well! Goes to show that experience makes all the difference. Josh |
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| It may hold more water than a standard 2 gallon pot. I remember seeing a famous plantsman (can't remember who - I think that he's a prof from Georgia) on TV demonstrate with a sponge, held first horizontally and then vertically, that much more water fell away when the sponge was held vertically. Thus he showed that a tall pot had better drainage than a short pot with the same volume. Cath |
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| Camp, thanks for the thumbs up. I know you have huge experience with plants in pots so I should be okay. Cath, what you say makes sense, but since my only choice was between a cut-off five-gallon pot and a full-sized gallon pot, the volume of the cut-off pot would be smaller than the full-sized pot, so I'm still better off using the cut-off pot. I'll be careful not to overwater the rose in any case. Josh, from what I remember your rose was very small to begin with and that makes it something of a crap shoot. Mine was also quite a bit smaller than I had hoped and for that reason I kept it in the shade for quite some time, even after I transplanted it into a 1-gallon pot. This is practically the only rose I've ever potted on rather than putting it into the ground, which I felt was warranted since this rose is not that easy to acquire, and I'd also heard that it was a rather slow grower in the beginning. So true. Ingrid |
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| Ingrid, Where did you get your band from? I know Long Ago Roses offers it but I'm not sure where else to do it. I put my in the shade as well but I think it was already upset when I got here. I am optimistically (naively) leaving it in the pot hoping it will come back from the roots. Josh |
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| Ah yes, going back to my ancient physics A levels, I recall how water is a fairly complex subject with much talk of perched water tables and capillary action. And, when keeping plants in permanent positions in pots, it pays to take considerable care with both the potting mix and adequate drainage - I sometimes use a wick running through the pots to the bottom drainage hole to encourage a downward flow. In this case, I would try to ensure that the pot is raised above the surface (use plant feet, stones, half bricks, whatever) and check the moisture levels using your finger - you (and your rose) should be fine. |
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| Josh, my rose came from Burlington Nursery. I believe Burling has a waiting list for Annie Laurie McDowell, and you might want to get your name on that. Just write her an e-mail; she's very good about responding. She used to work closely with the great Ralph Moore and is a whiz at propagation. Ingrid |
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