Posted by Tom Broome on 8/20/2008, 2:35 pm, in reply to "Root trimming"
64.12.117.67
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: A gentleman on another board recently
: described a method he uses with some
: mature Palms in pots, where he uses
: a large drill to remove sections of
: roots growing along the sides of a
: container in an effort to rejuvenate
: the pot-bound plant. The debris is
: removed and replaced with fresh soil
: mix and fertilizer.
:
: This is done in situations where the
: plant cannot be planted in the
: ground.
:
: How would Cycads respond to this
: type of treatment? My instincts
: tell me that most species would be
: OK but that recovery may take a bit
: longer than with Palms. The method
: seems to make sense: the main
: rootball is undisturbed so there is
: no setback, and the pruned roots
: stimulate new root branching. The
: biggest threat seems to be the
: potential for rot, so if this were
: done it would seem wise to do it
: during active growth.
:
: Any thoughts?
:
If you have the plant in a good sized pot, I don't know if this would do any good or not for a cycad. Cycads can handle being rootbound a lot more than many palms. I guess if I was going to do the same with a palm, I think I would take a sawsall blade and trim off the outside edges all the way around and fill back with new soil. With most cycads, you could probably do this without any any problems, especially with revolutas and D. edules, but there are several cycads that would have a tedancy to rot after this kind of mutilation. If you were to do this, I would heal up the wounded roots and keep from watering too much until the ends had a chance to harden off a little.
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