By Ackers
United Kingdom
Whenever I buy heathers from garden centre they are in a casing when taken out of pot. What is this? Am I supposed to break it open?
- 23 Feb, 2018
Answers
If the casing is netting you can cut it if you like - just cutting a couple of sides is enough, no need to rip it away. But if the roots have grown through it well you can leave it.
23 Feb, 2018
Hi Ackers, I am going to assume that this 'casing' is a small pot made of a coarse, laticework frame so that the roots of the plant can grow through it? The original cutting of your plant would have been planted into this until it looked to be of a saleable size and then the whole pushed into a nice looking pot for the sales table.
A large garden planting out hundreds of these would just remove the outer pot and plant the contents. As an individual gardener I would cut away the casing. Either way, I doubt that it makes any difference!
23 Feb, 2018
one of our gc grows their cuttings in a 'teabag' type mesh. I always cut some of it away as I find they grow away better.
23 Feb, 2018
Occasionally, I'll get a tree in a burlap sack from a garden center. It's a natural, breathable fiber that degrades once planted. But I agree, it's better to cut it away. At least cut holes in it to free up the roots before planting.
24 Feb, 2018
Thank you everyone. I transferred my new small heathers into larger pots as soon as I bought them instead of planting them straight out into the garden. It worked but the same hard rootball happened only larger. They are all healthy so it must be the nature of heathers to have a matted type of rootball.
19 Jan, 2019
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Hi, I presume you mean that there's a sort of netting that the plant has been grown in, the idea of this is that the plant can be planted out, and grow through the net, but I find that quite often it restricts the root growth, best to use a sharp knife, or a scalpel, and gently cut away this net before planting, being careful not to damage too many roots, Derek.
23 Feb, 2018