Potting On

After the light test I did on my Lemon plants I felt I needed to pot on the middle plant. The smallest one is not showing ANY signs of needing to be potted on but the middle one is. So this morning I decided to take the time to re-pot the lemon.

I got my bits together, cleaned out and soaked the new pot and carefully depotted the lemon. I had real issues because for some reason the medium, or maybe the roots, had managed to stick to the pot. In the end it came out in one piece but I had to mess around in case I damaged it. 

As you can see the roots themselves are nice and clean. There was no bad smells although the medium was obviously breaking down and it actually now looks and smells like compost rather than the coconut husk it was originally!

I wonder if citrus roots are generally tougher and stiff because these just didn't really want to loosen off. I wanted to un-bunch the roots that were a little cramped but they really didn't want to work with me. In any other kind of plant I would wonder if there was a problem as roots generally aren't like this. 

So in the end it was repotted, cleaned up and given a watering. I then found a saucer and popped it back on the windowsill. 

Next came the apple. I think these were Pink Lady seeds that I got. I talked about it in this post. Now, before we go any further, I know commercial apples in general, and Pink Ladies specifically, are hybrid plants. The seeds I get to germinate are very likely NOT to produce anything remotely like a Pink lady and may not even be palatable. But moving on. B-)

As you can see the roots have come out the bottom and I really think it's time to re-pot it. 

Here was my *sigh* moment of the morning. Only a few weeks ago I threw out a load of pots while I was having a clean up of the garden and outhouse. Now I find out that I don't have *any* pots between the small one the apple is in and the MUCH BIGGER pots I have to hand. Now I know its not the end of the world... But it just goes to show you what kind of moron I am. 

Anyway... The plant practically leapt out of the pot. Nothing like a copy of the Lemon that seemed almost like a Hermit crab in it's shell. I teased out the roots and popped it into the new pot with a mix of John Innes No3 and a couple of handfuls of recycled polystyrene.

I then gave it a good ruffle, took the chance to put the plant at a slight angle to correct the fact that originally it had started to lead towards the window... But we don't need to talk about that... Move along... Nothing to explain here! B-)

Now the apple is outside to harden off. I'll bring it in at night over the next week or two and then leave it outside. I don't think having it indoors is really necessary now. It's healthy enough to take on the outside world. 

One thing before I sign off. 
Please remember, when you are re-potting plants, please take the time to clean the pots you are going to use. If they are new they may only need a quick rinse. If they are older and reused then they will need a proper clean. Diseases do build up in old pots and you don't want to pass on problems when you can avoid it so easily.

Also... If you are using terracotta pots they will need to be pre-soaked because terracotta WILL wick away moisture from the medium, and terracotta pots can hold quite a lot of water!