POTTING PLANTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1938, Page 5

POTTING PLANTS

NECESSITY FOR CARE. The pots should be absolutely clean and dry. Plants to be repotted ’ should be allowed to go a little dry, as they then turn out more easily on their pots being tapped upside down. Well crock the bottom, and place a few leaves or moss on the crocks before adding any soil. ■ The soil should be sifted with a fine seive to free it from over-coarse material. It should be sufficiently dry to leave the hands without sticking to them in the least. In potting up or repotting be careful to disturb the roots as little as possible. In the case of repotting, any congestion of fibrous roots at the base of the transferred plants should be corrected by carefully liberating 'the rootlets from their tangled mass. This operation should not be carried too far. Add sufficient soil at the bottom of the pot to bring the upper level to reach the roots of the new plant, and then, holding the plant in the left hand, shake the further soil around the roots and firm the soil. The compost for the potting should be suited, to • the requirements of the plants to be potted. Good loam is essential. The best loam is the top spit of an old pasture from the hills or upland of a grazing country. It should have some lime in it. Decomposed leaf soil when properly done is a real asset* to the gardener.