TRANSPLANTING, POTTING AND REPOTTING
Directions have already been given for preparing the best soil for house
plants. This soil, sifted through a coarse screen--say a one-half inch
mesh--is just right for "pricking off" or transplanting the little
seedlings.
Use flats similar to those prepared for the seeds, but an inch deeper.
In the bottom put an inch of the rough material screened from sods and
manure. Give this a thorough watering; cover with an inch of the sifted
soil, and wet this down also. Then fill the box nearly level full of the
sifted soil, which should be neither dry nor moist enough to be sticky.
Take care also that this soil is not much--if any--colder than the
temperature in which the seedlings have been kept.
It is usually best to transplant the seedlings just as soon as they are
large enough to be handled, which is as soon as the second true leaf
appears. Nothing is gained by leaving them in the seed boxes longer, as
they soon begin to crowd and get lanky and are more likely to be
attacked by the damping off fungus than they are after being
transferred.
Find a table or bench of the right height upon which to work
comfortably. With a flat stick, or with a transplanting fork (which can
be had for fifteen cents) lift a bunch of the little plants out, dirt
and all, clear to the bottom of the box. Hold this clump in one hand and
with the other gently tear away the seedlings, one at a time, discarding
all crooked or weak ones. Never attempt to pull the seedlings from the
soil in the flat, as the little rootlets are very easily broken off.
They should come away almost intact, as shown facing page 48. Water the
seed flats the day previous to transplanting, so that the soil will be
in just the right condition, neither wet enough to make the roots
sticky, nor so dry as to crumble away.
Take the little seedling by the stem between the thumb and forefinger,
and with a small round pointed stick or dibber, or with the forefinger
of the other hand, make a hole deep enough to receive the roots and
about half the length--more if the seedlings are lanky--of the stem. As
the little plant is dropped into place, the tips of both thumbs and
forefingers, by one quick, firm movement, compress the earth firmly both
down on the roots and against the stem so that the plant sticks upright
and may not readily be pulled out. Of course there is a knack about it
which cannot be put into words--I could have pricked off a hundred
seedlings in the time I am spending in trying to describe the
operation--but a little practice will make one reasonably efficient at
it.
When the flat is completed, jar it slightly to level the surface and
give a watering, being careful, however, to bend down the plants as
little as possible. Set the plants on a level surface, and if the sun is
bright, shade with newspapers during the middle of the day for two or
three days.
From now on until ready for potting, keep at the required temperature,
as near as possible, and water thoroughly on bright mornings when
necessary, but only when the drying of the surface shows that the soil
needs it. Above all, give all the air possible, while maintaining the
necessary heat. The quality of the mature plants will depend more upon
this precaution than upon anything else in the way of care.
The little seedlings are sometimes put from the seed flat directly into
small pots. I strongly advise the method described above. The flats save
room and care, and the plants do much better for a few weeks than they
will in pots. Where room is scarce, it is well to transplant cuttings
into flats instead of potting them off. As soon, however, as either the
transplanted plants or cuttings begin to crowd in the flats, they must
be put into pots. How soon this will be depends largely, of course, upon
the amount of room they have been given. As many as a hundred are often
set in a flat 13x19 inches, but it is well to give them twice as much
space as that if room permits.
POTTING
Cuttings and small plants are put into two-inch or "thumb" pots. Some of
the larger growing geraniums or very sturdy plants require
two-and-one-half inch pots, but the smaller size should be used when
possible.
The soil for pots up to three inches should be screened, but not made
too fine. A coal-ash sifter, or half-inch screen will do. The soil
should be made up as directed in Chapter III.
The pots should be thoroughly cleaned with sand and water, or by a
several days' soaking, and then wiping out with a cloth, if they have
been used before. An old pot, with dirt sticking to the inside and the
pores all clogged up, will not do good work. Old or new, they should be
immersed in water until through bubbling just before using; otherwise
they will absorb too much moisture from the soil.
The method of potting should depend somewhat upon the condition of the
roots of the cutting. If they are less than half an inch long, as they
should be, fill the pot level full of soil, make a hole with the
forefinger of one hand; insert the cutting to about half its depth with
the other, rap the bottom of the pot smartly against the bench to settle
the earth, and then press it down firmly with the thumbs, leveling it
as the pot is placed to one side in an empty flat. (The jarring down of
the soil should precede the firming with the thumbs, as this will
compact the soil more evenly within the pot.) This should leave the soil
a little below the rim of the pot, making a space to hold water when
watering; and the cutting should be so firmly embedded that it cannot be
moved without breaking the soil.
With cuttings whose roots have been allowed to grow an inch or more in
length, and plants with a considerable ball of roots--as they should
have when coming from the transplanting flats--it is better partly to
fill the pot. Hold the plant or cutting in position with the left hand
and press the soil in about it with the right hand--firming it as
directed in the former case. With a little practice either operation can
be performed very rapidly. Florists do four to five hundred pots an
hour.
When for any reason it is necessary to put a small or weakly rooted
plant or cutting, or a cutting that is just on the point of sending
forth roots, in a pot that seems too large, _put it near the edge of the
pot_, instead of in the middle. This will often save a plant which would
otherwise be lost, and at the next shift it can, of course, be put in
the center of the pot.
If no small pots are at hand, several small plants or cuttings can be
put around the edge of a four-or five-inch pot, with good results. Care
must be taken, however, not to give too much water.
As soon as the little plants or cuttings are potted up, give them a
thorough watering and place them where the holes in the bottoms of the
pots will not be clogged with soil. A large flat, in the bottom of which
an inch of pebbles, coarse sand or sifted cinders has been put, will be
a good place for them. Keep shaded during the hot part of the day for
three or four days. At first the pots may be placed as close together as
possible, but in a very short time--two weeks at the most, if the
growing conditions are right--they will need to be put farther apart.
Nothing will injure them so quickly as being left crowded together where
they cannot get enough air. Better, if necessary, give or throw away
half of them than to attempt to grow fifty plants where you have room
for only two dozen.
As before, water only when necessary, _i.e._, when the surface of the
soil begins to look whitish and dry. Then water thoroughly. Until by
practice you know just what they need, knock a few out of the pots, say
fifteen minutes after watering, and see if the ball of earth has been
wet through to the bottom; if not, you are not doing the job thoroughly.
If the pots do not dry out between waterings, but stay muddy and heavy,
either your soil is not right or you have used pots too large for your
plants.
REPOTTING
In the course of a week or two, if a plant is knocked out, the small
white roots may be seen coming through the ball of earth and beginning
to curl around the outside of it. The time for repotting the young
plants will have been reached when these roots have made a thick network
around the ball of earth, but before they become brown and woody; that
is, while they are still white and succulent--"working roots," as the
florists term them.
[Illustration: Potted cuttings ready for shifting to a larger pot. From
left to right, ivy geranium, snapdragon, geranium and dusty miller]
[Illustration: Some plants, like Rex begonia, will strike root from
their leaves if perforated with a knife into damp sand]
[Illustration: In all potted plants an important detail is the placing
of rough drainage material, such as broken pieces of pot, charcoal,
ashes, etc., at the bottom, to prevent moisture from settling in the
soil and souring it]
The shift, as a general rule, should be to a pot only one size larger,
that is, from a three to a four, or a four to a five.
Remove the plant from the old pot by holding the stem of the plant
between the index and middle finger of the left hand, and with the right
inverting the pot and rapping the edge of the rim sharply against the
edge of the bench or table.
Before putting the plant into the new pot, remove the top half inch of
soil and gently loosen up the lower half of the ball of roots, if it is
firmly matted.
Put soil in the bottom of the pot to such a depth that when the ball of
roots is covered with half an inch or so of new soil, the surface
thereof will still be about half an inch below the rim of the pot. Hold
the plant in place with the left hand, and with the right fill in around
it, making the soil firm as before. Water and care is the same as after
the first potting.
Pots four inches or over in size should be crocked to make certain of
sufficient drainage. The best material to use is broken charcoal, in
pieces one-half to an inch in diameter. Pieces of broken pots, cinders
or rough pebbles will do. Be sure that the drainage hole is not covered;
if pieces of pots are used, put the concave side down over the hole, as
illustrated facing page 41. The depth of the drainage material, or
crocking, will be from half an inch to three inches, according to the
size of the pot. Over this rough material put a little screenings, leaf
mould or sphagnum moss, to prevent the soil's washing down into it. Then
fill in with soil and pot in the regular way.
The time for repotting house plants is at the beginning of their growing
season. It varies, of course, with the different kinds. The great
majority, however, start into new growth in the spring and should be
repotted from the middle of March to the middle of May. Plants kept
through the winter for stock plants are usually started up and repotted
early in February to induce the abundant new growth that furnishes
cuttings. The method of repotting will depend on the nature of the
plant. Soft-wooded plants, like geraniums, are put in in the ordinary
way and firmed with the fingers. The palms do best with the new soil
more firmly packed about the old ball of roots. Hard-wooded plants with
very fine roots, like the azaleas, should have the soil rammed down
firmly about the old ball; for which purpose it is necessary to use a
blunt, flat piece of wood, of convenient size. In repotting such
plants, it is well to let the ball of roots soak several minutes in a
pail of water before putting into the new pot. If very densely matted,
make several holes in it with a spike, working it around, and leave the
soil a little lower at the center of the pot to induce the water to run
down through the root ball.
Plants that have been crocked in the old pots should have this material
removed, if possible, before going into their new quarters.
Plants in large pots often use up all the plant food available, and
where they cannot be given still larger pots become quite a problem.
They are usually handsome specimens which one does not like to lose.
Remove such a plant from its pot and carefully _wash_ all the soil from
the roots; clean the pot and carefully repot in fresh soil in the same
pot. The result will be extremely satisfactory.
Until one has become proficient in the art of potting, it will pay well
to practice with every plant and cutting that may be had. If you have
mistakes to make, make them with these, so that your favorite plants may
be handled safely.