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Root washing

Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003

I read a very interesting article during the week about 'root washing', it was on a number of American gardening websites. The advise was, when repotting, particularly trees and shrubs, but including seedlings and young plants, that the roots should be gently swilled in water to remove all the earth, in order to check for any sign of grubs/insects, to avoid infecting own soil with contaminated soil, and to trim roots if necessary.  It is particularly effective for root bound plants I gather, a they can be more easily teased apart when all the soil is removed.

Have people here been doing this?  

Any opinions?

Posts

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307

    Always do this with the alpines I have bought since it is often very difficult to get them to grow out of the rich compost in which they are grown for sale. Amazing number of times when a plant has failed and been taken out, and the roots are still in the original stuff.

    Word of warning though. There are some plants (Daphnes for one) which absolutely hate having their roots disturbed like that and would definitely die on you.

    Not so sure it is needed with every plant though. More often than not, just disturbing the roots is enough.

  • TootsietimTootsietim Posts: 178

    Fairly common practice in the world of bonsai where plants are regularly repotted and root pruned.

    I sometimes do it to shrubby material and always if I suspect any pest problems. (vine weevil for example) or gifts from other people where I suspect weed infestations. ( eg ground elder).

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