In need of potted plant advice...

I have enjoyed this hanging basket since receiving it last summer. It was ID'd as a Scutellaria Javanica. This plant has started a passion of the Skullcaps for me. It even bloomed late in December on an enclosed back porch. http://davesgarden.com/journal/edit/showimage.php?eid=118639

I moved it outdoors this spring and it got knocked off the plant rack and hit soundly on the bricks. It split the pot almost all the way around.

Obviously I need to repot as it is root bound but the dilemma is this:

If I put it in the same size hanging basket, the plant will need too much water thru the summer. A common malady in the south.

I haven't located any larger hanging baskets and guess I could put it in a larger pot to sit on ground. I need to keep it in a pot as it is winter tender.

On the other hand, I could cut the root ball into 3 or 4 pieces and pot them separately.
I am a little apprehensive about this as I would hate to ruin a beautiful plant if I am not successful.
I am also wondering if this plant needs to be rootbound to bloom?

Any suggestions are welcomed.

This message was edited Apr 12, 2007 8:58 PM

Looks like it would be easy to start from cuttings. I would start some in a new pot and repot the original plant in the same size container (just in case it is not easy from cuttings).

Bloom production should be secondary to good plant vitality. Continued stress leads to strain - a more serious condition and can lead to the death of the organism. The plant is very chlorotic and has burned leaf tips, so I suspect possible over-watering or a build-up of fertilizer salts or (bi)carbonates from irrigation water (or possibly a fluorine induced problem)

Prune the plant back hard. Saw the bottom 3/4 of the root mass off. Tease the remaining roots apart & prune out some of the largest. You'll be left with a root mass with little soil in it. Repot into a fast draining soil that allows you to water copiously each time you water. Water should run freely from the drain hole as you're watering. Use a chopstick or similar to work out the air pockets in the roots as you repot.

This is a true repot and varies radically from just potting up. It is a far superior method when revitalizing your plant(s) is your focus.

Al

Dale, I did try cuttings last summer unsuccessfully but I do believe it would root easily. Perhaps the timing was not good to do so and I intend to try again.
Like all skullcaps it produces seed. I did save seeds but am impatient as they will take awhile to achieve this size.

Al ~ you gave me another option I should have thought about. I use this system to keep a couple of grapefruit trees in manageable pots.

At the time this photo was taken, I had just received this plant. No telling the abuse it had previously rec'd. I am not prone to use fertilizers extensively. Especially during the intense heat of summer here. I also need to add that I had it in full sun at this time and have since found it is a more suitable shade plant.

This plant is easily stressed from water deprivation, I suspect partially due to the rootbound condition now visible. But all the reading I have done indicates that it also likes wet conditions. The least wilting of leaves from lack of moisture will cause leaf shed.





This message was edited Apr 13, 2007 7:26 AM

Pod: You could go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy one of those wrought iron type baskets and the coco liner and pot it in there. They do dry out quickly in the summer, but so does everything else in the South! You might have to water two or three times a week in the summer, but those iron type baskets come in I think 10" & 16" sizes and maybe even a 20" if I remember correctly!

Here's one that I think is 16" that I have hanging in my screen enclosure:

Here's a larger size that has Verbena ( Needing water badly )

And this one with Lantana:

Hi Lin ~ I love those types of baskets but have always steered away from them.
We slip off for two weeks in the summer and I hate to ask someone to tend to tons of plants for me. I try to pot up (in size) or prune the rootball back, adding fresh soil and water well. Then I move all to shaded areas before we go. I have been really successful doing that and hate to brag as it will backfire. I have a young couple tend to my too many pets and I hate to ask them to water all these plants. Especially when some need little or no water ~ they would never figure it out.

Hee Hee, Pod .... I hear you! We never go away for more than 4 or 5 days at a time! We are going to the Smoky Mountains for 5-6 days next month and one of my hubby's students is housesitting for us. I can't ask her to bother with watering plants. I'm going to get permanest trays and matting for all of my African Violets and just put enough water for wick watering for a week. I will move all houseplants out onto our covered deck and water well before we leave. The lawn is on an irrigation system that comes on twice a week. Our house sitter will be having to take care of the 4 cats and get the paper in and that's all I feel we should aks of her! We have a 150 gal Marine/Salt Water Aquarium and we put an automatic feeder in there so the fish and corals are taken care of! His student lives about 20 minutes from us and she just has one cat, but will still be in school and working down this end of town, so plans on staying at our house every night. A lot of people don't feel comfortable at all taking care of live plants, and one time someone watered stuff that didn't need watering and some stuff I don't want water on the foliage (African Violets) ... so it's just easier to water well before we go away and hope for the best. I will be going again in June and July, and my hubby will be left with watering all house plants EXCEPT my African Violets! Ain't it fun having Zoo ....... and a Jungle!! (although we are down to just the 4 cats and the aquarium now).

Lin

I hate to tell DH we need to get home sooner for my plants. I worry myself sick every time we leave. Last year I was so delighted when I got home I started this thread... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/618634/

Zoos and Jungles are compatible and fun... for some of us!

Pod: LOVE that thread! Sooo true. Sometimes I think the plants don't need us as much as we need them! Same goes for the "Critters" too! We just have the 4 cats, but you know how cats are ... very independent. All they care about is that there's food in that dish when they want to eat! And that could be 2:00 p.m. or 2:00 a.m.!!

Lin

Pod: Forgot to say ... Love that Ornamental Oregano Plant! I had no idea they got flowers! And that Texas Star Hibiscus ... Wow, it's a beauty!

The ornamental oregano is a favorite of mine. Beautiful and fragrant too. I love the odor too but have been totally unsuccessful at keeping it thru the heat and humidity of a summer here. Still love it tho and keep trying.

I have a plant that originally was in a combo basket that I bought a couple of years ago ... someone on DG told me they thought it looked like an Ornamental Oregano ... hasn't bloomed for me though, Does it need full sun to bloom? I need to give it some TLC because although healthy, it's a rather straggly. It has a variegated leaf and I took some cuttings last year and one little piece that was in sun got a pink tinge in the variegation ... really pretty. I need to take some more cuttings and try to get a nice full plant from it. I know when you crush a leaf, it does smell like Oregano, so I'm assuming the ID was correct.

Lin ~ this one was blooming when I came back from vacation. I had left it in high shade. I really don't know much about it other than I love it. You are far better at it than I to keep it going thru the heat of summer. How did you manage that?

LOL Pod: It was out in a shady spot in the backyard and got water when the sprinklers came on two times a week. Winter before this past one was very, very mild ... no cold temps at all, so it just stayed out there. This winter just passed we had a couple of very cold nights, so I was dragging plants in and out off and on for two months! Most of my plants thrive on neglect. I never seem to remember to fertilize or feed them. I'm trying to get better though ... maybe if I'd get a set schedule it wouldn't be so hard to remember, and I'm sure my plants would enjoy a treat of some food once in awhile! (Either that, or they would be so SHOCKED by "food" that they'd keel over and die!) :)

Well I pulled it from its' pot and removed a portion of the roots (only one fourth) as it didn't look as rootbound when out of the pot. I also put it in a wider pot, same depth as the hanging basket. And removed a portion of the old soil, adding fresh. At the risk of being chastised, I did not prune it back. It is doing good showing no signs of setback at all...

Think I'm going to like it in a ground pot too.

It really looks Great, Pod! I love it in the ground container!

I am only going to be gone for 3 days and am having panic attacks (LOL)......no one knows my plants' needs like i do!!!! Now I am down to the begging state for the housekeeper to come and stay so i don't have to board my puppies. My brother could feed them, but if i am away, they will get bored and dig up all my hard work!!!
All your plants, podster look great!!!

Oh Gail ... wish I lived closer, I would love to "Puppy" Sit while you are gone! Every time I go to visit one of my Sisters and then come back home I have withdrawal ... we don't have any dogs and I miss them! Some day we will have a puppy again! Right now it's all I can do to handle four cats!

Gessiegail ~ I am in sympathy with the puppies. I spent the most awful late summer, early fall with a young stray I brought home. He was charming but bored. Ate thru the fence, dug up plants and others he ate to a nubbin. I am still finding damaged things and wondering what happened to this or that plant.

I know your plants will be o.k. alone ~ with the help of puppies tho, I don't know. Good luck!

Yeah, Donna to the rescue......she and her husband agreed to stay over here and feed the dogs. As long as their is some activity, they don't get so bored and lonely.......big weight off my shoulders!!!!!!

Good! Enjoy your trip...