Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello YouTubers
today I'm gonna show you how to
check your plants. Your potted plants that is . . .
to make sure that
the roots haven't overgrown their
container
uh... you don't want your
roots to overgrow their container because it promotes a condition
of the plant
called being
"root bound"
and when a plant is root-bound the roots basically strangle themselves and starve
the
the plant of
nutrition and
air and water
you wanna make sure that your plants aren't root-bound
and if they are then it's time to transplant.
In this video,
like I said earlier, we're going to take a look at
how to go about determining
whether a plant
is root-bound or not.
Any plant is a good candidate
for
checking to see if it's root-bound.
But with this tomato that you see here
it's especially important because tomatoes are fast growers.
Any annuals,
be it vegetables or ornamental plants,
grow very quickly.
And because they grow very quickly they can EASILY outgrow their container. So,
let's check the roots on this tomato seedling
to see how it's doing.
So here we have this tomato plant.
It's been in this container for about
a week or two
uh... because I regularly transplant these when they're seedlings
because they grow so fast so what I like to do is
hold the container in my hand
and then I'll take uh
if I can grab it here
uh...
I'll take a, uh
shovel or a
hand trowel
something that has some weight to it
and slowly
I hold the cup
like this so that the the plant doesn't fall out
turn it over
and then gently tap the bottom
to loosen the container from its sides
and eventually it will just pop out
and then I pull it off
so there's the container and here are the roots
and as you can see
uh... this is a
pretty good candidate for a transplant this is the time that you transplant
you've got a few roots coming out
but not so many that it's strangling itself
but you don't want to get to the point to where the roots start
spiraling around
the uh...
the container because that's
because then they grow in a habit and they'll wanna stay in that direction you
want them to
to be . . I guess straight is the word. So
let's uh... let's take this uh... tomato plant and transplant this so let's do that, now.
When you're ready to transplant it's good to have a few things on hand
here i have a wheelbarrow that I like to use
because it makes a stable
stable platform that I can uh...
take anywhere around the yard so it's real handy
uh... if I'm doing a big job that I can
work directly
in the wheelbarrow, but
what I like to do if I'm working on a smaller job is
add another container and
here it is. So here I have a uh...
a concrete mixing tub that
you can get any uh
home supply center
I like to just drop this into my wheelbarrow. Fits perfectly and
it's great for mixing small amounts of... potting mix.
Hand pruners are a real handy thing to have during repotting because you may need to
cut some roots or you may need to cut some stems or just do some pruning
on your uh... transplant at the time that you're transplanting it. So keep these around
they're real good.
Of course you should always have your
transplant candidate handy
when you're doing your transplant.
Another handy item is a sieve
uh... so that you can
you can uh... filter out the larger particles in your soil medium. This is a
uh...
pizza
pizza grate of some sort but it comes in handy for
getting those large particles out of your seedling mix.
So keep that handy if you need it.
Some gardening gloves are good to have as well, especially if your soil is
uh...
it's got some clay content in it or
you know it might it definitely has bacteria in it so it's always a
good precaution uh... if you're gonna be done a lot of work
in the garden to have
some gardening gloves.
Potting containers are also necessary for your repotting.
I like to use uh...
these growers containers
because they're cheap
and uh... they don't have to be pretty for my needs.
Uh... ideally you want a container that is not
TOO much larger than the transplant
container.
For example here
uh... this container is
quite a few sizes larger
then uh... than needed. Uh,
ideally
I would need a container probably
oh... I don't know, half
half this size. But
because
I want to give this a permanent home
I'm gonna use this container. But
ideally you wanna, you wanna work up in sizes, you don't want to go
super large because
then you you uh... you risk
uh...
over watering or uh...
keeping the soil too moist for the plant . . .so . . .
but will do with this for now and it should work just as well
just uh... keep in mind that
ideally you don't
you don't really want to go
too many sizes larger than you need.
Last but not least you'll need some potting soil.
You can now buy your own ready-made potting soil.
But I like to make my own because I know what's in it and I can make it
uh... drain as
quickly or slowly as I need
and I can custom-tailor the nutritional requirements of the soil
for the specific plant that I'm putting in.
This hear is uh... some
peat moss that has nothing in it other than peat moss. It's not fertilized or anything.
It's uh...
It's a fine-grained particle...
that uh...
holds moisture really well but it also drains.
uh... and
The plants really seem to like it so
we'll add this
and i'm gonna go get
the uh... the other ingredients so here I have some fully-composted uh...
compost uh... it's
it's mature
and uh...
that means it doesn't have any uh... ammonia in it or things that uh... will
actually
stunt the growth of your plants or kill your plants altogether
and this a courser-grained
courser-grained material as you can see it's got some uh...
some large bark chunks in it and
other things. It's got some nutrition
this one in particular has
uh...
has some Mycohrizzae
cultures in it
so
I like to use this because it helps with drainage
and it helps with long-term moisture- retention because
when these small pieces of bark
saturated with wood
they hold on to that
that moisture for uh... an increased amount of time
and... they also provide really good drainage so
they provide air spaces
for the roots to grow into
so if your roots are feeling a little uh...
flooded they can find an airspace and get the oxygen they need
uh... from those air spaces
so i'm using an equal part of this ...
to the peat moss that i have down here
uh... and I'll just throw that in
and go get my other ingredients.
In my potting mix I like to throw in a little vermiculite
uh, that's these uh...
so it's kinda like a mica-type substance I think it's some sort of expanded
clay
but uh...
it also helps the drainage and water retention so
for good measure I like to throw in about
a handful
of that as well.
I'm also going to throw in some
some
tomato fertilizer here
and
I, I'm not real uh
picky about how much I add I just kinda eyeball it
of course you should follow your instructions if you're not
feeling so sure but really i've never had uh...
never had any problems with
adding too much or too little fertilizer so
I'll just, uh... sprinkle some of that in there
and, for good measure I like to add uh... bone meal
uh... this also has uh... this particular brand also adds
uh... bacillus and all sorts of other beneficial bacteria which uh
helps promote plant health
so, I take some of this, oh maybe, I dunno, so much
sprinkle that in there
and that's about it. Sometimes I also add
some larger particles of uh...
maybe even uh...
perlite but i don't like perlite because it floats. I like heavier stuff
and the the name escapes me at the moment but uh...
you know it's uh... it looks like perlite but it's actually a stone product.
So if you need really quick-draining soil you want to use
some large
particles that are maybe the size of
oh about
half the size of a pea
if you're planning trees and
things like that in pot that really just
don't like wet feet I would recommend using that.
So at this point
basically take everything and
I don't like it, I don't like to keep it wet. I like to
keep it kinda dry
when i'm working with it and
I'll stir it up real well
of course
this is not enough for this container so
i'm gonna have to add some more.
You should always take into account the size of your container when you're mixing your
potting mix.
i've decided to switch to a house for container because it makes more sense
and
marijuana use
so much so i'll on such a large container when i don't even know what
i'm gonna do with the plant
uh... this container here is a
the double walled container
and normally doesn't have alternate so i go about some holes in the bottom
well like about the containers it's except that
to all the feminine side
long outside wall
which is good because i its yields a so the uh... plant roots from mom
from heat the
double wall acts acts like a insulator
uh... so we'll keep it cooler during the daytime and in old slow down the calling
at night
so it keeps more stable environment for your plants of this is a good container
so while they're here
film aiken container to a certain amount and we'll do to size up how much for all
i needed near to start with
is all places by
my planting inside the container
and see where the top of this spoil line reaches
and that should be where i want the final soil line and because you can tell
here
um... the sewer line is just about right
uh... with tomato plants
you've been um...
you can take off the uh... the smaller leaves
here at the bottom and then barry the plant down to its its neck
uh... because it'll still grow additional roots
understand you buried but in this case i think i'll just leave it because i've
already barry wand
and all of let it uh... electro at this time
where's my planet
and
we'll take it out
as you can see it before the roots were done and healthy
and all gently places
in my container
i'd like to place my
my plants in the center of the compare that way
the route seven equal opportunity of growing out into the news for all
so with that said
i take my
and place in the pot
i'd like to start on one side
that waits that is a plantain alter the pod around a hundred eighty degrees
license on the other side so that it doesn't
the soil doesn't push to the uh...
plan to one side
and they'll fill in the rest
and as you can see it
no
this is a well deserved
spotting softening and his dry wants we've got some moisture in it but it was
uh... with relatively driving
and now all live
press the soil down a little bit furnad downed breast implant down into the
model
and just a little more
and there we have it media
freshly plotted tomato retarded tomato plant
now of course um...
you generally want to uh... water this and so will do that now right now i'm
going to get this
plant here light
soaking
because that's an oxymoron light and soaking
and i do that fire not watering
dot watering at
on the old soil that i think that watering around the edges were referred
to the following
and water if they are
water is a small should be a slow and gold prosecutions just after water in
there to penetrate within my dad were and reluctant and initial watering kind
made work its way into the soil
and saturate some of the soil
and uh...
and wait a few minutes
and then give it a missile another watering
says officers brave
and uh... you keep doing that until
waters it starts as a result of our visited two years
this water stripping out the bottom
fear
uh... but it's
coming up on us
but that doesn't mean that the the the container is saturated
start out with always
that doesn't mean that the containers averages it means of water a little too
quickly
self defense is five
and weight forty views sofian
and then i'll give you another
water into the field actually
if years here transplant solarz already saturated you don't even really need to
water the soil
you know if you did a couple of days and then you can model thing
alike to whipple my plants
and uh...
where do that
are using them
appears in the last thing i think some of masking
and i think that uh... stick it on to the glass
and i A
make my label
using a rough pulpit marker
and
trackpad
our world cut off
slides
do you have my way home
feel that off
and affix it to my
container so noted the period that's uh...
and it went in
tomato
very erratic
when i read it transpired worry part of this uh... this fire
i can just vigorously guroff uh... plays a dominant container
that's all there is to it
well i hope you enjoyed this video and
you learn something from it
you know guarding is a uh... to learning experience
uh... you know you'll never know uh...
what's right and tilly actually try yourself and different things work for
different in different ways for different
betting on your ah...
so well on your edge
your whether your gardening conditions and your schedule
uh... there's a number you know there's a whole number of factors that
they can affect the final outcome of your endeavors
like i said if you
uh... i hope you enjoyed this video and if you uh... if you did
please that like and subscribe to my biggest
and we'll see you soon