repotting digbyana in terracotta pot?

[jellycat]

OB!

It's me again...

my digbyana just finished blooming about 2 weeks ago and it started to put out new roots like this.

This plant, barks and the terracotta pot are so tight, there's barely any room for tag to be inserted.

I wonder what's the best way to repot this without breaking the pot? I kinda wanna save this for another cat, but if I had to break it for this plant it's fine...

[Steve83]

Fracturing the pot makes the process much easier, and way less likely to damage those new roots. Think of the $5 as liability insurance.

[isurus79]

I usually just drop the whole pot into one that's larger and add new media as needed. The plant doesn't skip a beat the new pot only needs a fraction of the media to fill (orchiata isn't cheap!), so everyone wins!

[jellycat]

I've seen Art Chadwick did that in one of his youtube videos!

his pots seem to be plastic, mine is gonna be superheavy someday if I could keep them alive this long

Originally Posted by isurus79

I usually just drop the whole pot into one that's larger and add new media as needed. The plant doesn't skip a beat the new pot only needs a fraction of the media to fill (orchiata isn't cheap!), so everyone wins!

[DirtyCoconuts]

I would do a test to see if it will come out. What I do Is soak the hell out of it and get it really wet then take a 2-3” screw and stick it into the hole at the bottom. If it can be gently lifted it will come right out, if not, drop it in the next size pot

[SouthPark]

I can really understand how tough it is to get the plant out. The roots do a bonding thing onto surfaces of pots. Maybe an even stronger bond onto surfaces of clay pots than plastic pots. And getting out of plastic pots is a challenge for many cases.

The only thing I can think of is a very slow process of 1 piece at a time ---- doing careful excavation of the media around the wall of the pot. As in remove 1 piece of media at the edge (at the top of the pot). Some suitable tools for picking and cutting etc will be needed. And carefully and methodically remove bits at a time. This could take a really long time. But most likely can eventually get there. It may even require using trowels to shear bits of roots away from the wall of the pot.

[Roberta]

Another option... if you're dropping it into a larger pot, consider breaking the original pot - you don't need to remove anything that doesn't drop away easily, because you will have opened up the root ball, then drop it into the larger pot with new medium. You can then get rid of old medium that is loose, remove any mushy old roots that are in the way, but you don't have to get it squeaky-clean. That just makes it easier to position in the new pot, and you won't have the full weight of the original pot since much of it will drop off.

[jellycat]

Update:

glad I ask, pot broken.

As I went over the media, some bark had been soo old its mushy. Plant overall is in great shape, plus I get to use the broke clay pieces to fill up the bottom (who has plastic foams at home nowadays)

Thanks y'all!

[claypot]

I am a great fan of clay pots , indeed they are my pot of choice - as it was years ago for the Victorians. The trick of safely extracting the plant is total soaking to make sure the roots are well hydrated then with a sharp knife just gently edge around the inside of the pot to release any attached roots. Have to be careful but works every time for me. Clay is so much more breathable than plastic, being pourous it takes in moisture, it is certainly more stable than plastic for large plants, and the final benefit is that slugs don't like climbing them.

[jellycat]

Good to know!

Originally Posted by claypot

I am a great fan of clay pots , indeed they are my pot of choice - as it was years ago for the Victorians. The trick of safely extracting the plant is total soaking to make sure the roots are well hydrated then with a sharp knife just gently edge around the inside of the pot to release any attached roots. Have to be careful but works every time for me. Clay is so much more breathable than plastic, being pourous it takes in moisture, it is certainly more stable than plastic for large plants, and the final benefit is that slugs don't like climbing them.