Pot bound plants

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:18 pm

I figured you would get it from what I was saying. Most cacti do not have tap roots that go and look for water. There isn't very much water available in habitat so they grow their roots near the surface to collect as much water as possible! (they are good at collecting what natural rainfall there is)

Ian thanks for your roots pictures they are also cool!

Dmyerswny · Post by **Dmyerswny** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:25 pm

Yes the roots are cool I like the tiny little cactus that has a tubular root bigger than it is how funny thanks for all the good info guys keep it coming

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:31 pm

haha, well the roots of cacti sure are interesting, as they do have lots of different forms.

Dmyerswny · Post by **Dmyerswny** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:47 am

I just noticed you said saguaro roots actually grow up Peter do they naturally grow up like even in a well watered enviroment or do they only do this in search of water?

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:51 am

no, they always grow up towards the surface from what I understand.

A well watered saguaro=a dead saguaro.

They really don't need all that much water.

Dmyerswny · Post by **Dmyerswny** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:55 am

Wrong wording I should have said ideal watering conditions

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:16 am

I see well under Ideal watering they should have their roots shoot out from the tap root in all directions and grown up towards the surface where they collect water. I don't know if they lose finer roots or not like some other plants do.

Sutremaine · Post by **Sutremaine** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:19 am

How clean do the roots need to be before repotting? I usually get to the stage where the Ferocactus is, with just a little bit of peat clinging to the root ends and wedged into various junctions.

Dmyerswny · Post by **Dmyerswny** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:27 am

I took almost all of the dirt off till they looked like the pics on the previous page I started mine by wiggling my finger up from the bottom of my root ball to my cactus or tap root then broke it up just playing with the dirt between my fingers then I rinsed with Luke warm water so I could check the roots out

charlpic · Post by **charlpic** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:24 am

What is the plant on the third picture ? Don't know why but this one had me laugh !

hob · Post by **hob** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:27 am

Sutremaine wrote:How clean do the roots need to be before repotting? I usually get to the stage where the Ferocactus is, with just a little bit of peat clinging to the root ends and wedged into various junctions.

they don't have to be squeaky clean, peat is not harmful to the plants. The problem comes when a plant in all peat dries out and it turns into a hard solid block that will not easily re-wet trapping the root ball inside it. As long as you have freed the roots and removed most of it that will be fine.

this image shows what happens if you just take it out of the pot and put it in a bigger one without breaking up the root ball and removing most of the peat.

the black area stays dry even when you water the plant, the plant then struggles to get water and grows very poorly in extreme cases it can die through lack of water even though you are watering it regularly

paul280981 · Post by **paul280981** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 1:31 pm

Is that what peat looks like in those 3 pictures of the small cactus? I've been really lucky as all of the plants that i've bought have been in proper cacus mix and have been easy to clean up.

When you replant a bare rooted cactus like that, do the roots eventually begin to move up and spread out? As I repotted my plants I tried to spread the roots out, but the larger plants roots are facing downward a bit.