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Encouraging
new plants to extend their root-ball
The potting
mix in most plant pots is very light, with many
large spaces created by the sand/pine fines
used. It also needs to be watered often as it
drains rapidly. This is nothing like the soil
in most new gardens, especially in Canberra
where it is tightly packed (dense) clay and
very dry after the drought.
When
you plant a new plant, you need to encourage
the roots to spread out of the original root-ball
shape of the pot and extend into the surrounding
dry hard ground.
Some
ways of achieving this are:
- Fill
the planting hole with water, and let the
water drain away into the soil before planting.
Do this twice. This stops dry ground from
sucking the water from your new plant's root-ball,
as well as providing moisture for the new
roots to find.
- Make
the back-fill soil into an introductory zone
to the garden soil. This zone should have
properties intermediate between the potting
mix and the garden soil. The back-fill soil
will be less dense than the surrounding soil
because quite a lot of air will have been
included through the digging process. A little
added humus at a ratio of 1 humus to 5 back-fill
soil would be beneficial. If you have no compost,
then some coconut peat soaked in water is
suitable. The new roots will then encounter
a 'softer' soil with more air pockets and
some water-retaining humus.
- Add
an inorganic, rock chip or pebble mulch from
the trunk to about 15cm out from the plant,
to prevent water loss and to shade the root
area. Do this even if the garden bed has an
organic all-over mulch. The new plants should
enjoy your attention to detail, and thrive.
[Jan
Simpson]
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