1426 POT 



down and steadying; it; tlii^ 

 in the pot. Next taki- iIm 

 run it around the iii>i.l. . , 

 pack the soil, add nun-v ^..il 

 evenly and firmly thu eutir 

 allowing half an inch of 

 space hetween the surface 

 of the soil and the upper 

 edge of the pots to hold 

 water. What has been 

 said about new and clean 

 pots applies with even 

 greater force to larf,'e pots. 

 Thei...llin-nf,,nl,i,lsis 

 a radicall) Onirivni M|„.ra- 



purely i' im-ii ,,il |.i,Mii^. 

 about which lh(. pr. riilui;^^ 

 has been writtiii. Take 

 Cattleyas as an exaiiipli . 

 Being'epiphytes, th.y ,{•, 

 not require soil in which 

 to grow. Put them in 

 as small pots as possible. 

 The material for potting 

 best suited to these and 

 most orchids is fibrous 

 peat and live sphagnum 

 moss in equal proportions, 

 adding a small portion of 

 broken charcoal. If fresh- 

 ly imported pieces are to 



be potted, cut away all the old, dead roots, pseudobulbs 

 and leaves. If the formation of the piece is uneven It 

 should be cut in two, so as to combine the parts thus 

 separated into a more symmetrical whole, with the 

 growths pointing to the center. Have the pot thoroughly 

 clean, fill it about half with clean "crocks" and small 

 pieces of charcoal, ad.iust the piicc in the center of the 

 pot, distributing evenly any idois wliirh iviiiaiii; but 

 first spread a layer of moss nv, ]• i h,' '.i ^.k^.' ih.ii press 

 the preparation of peat and umi-- i \iii1\ and m.idi rately 

 firm around the piece and iniln miic^: n-, s iit-t ween the 

 roots, finishing up liitrh an. mid iln- ct utir; insert some 

 small-sized staki-s at tij*- pi-opcr pia-'Hs to support the 

 piece, tie the 



riNQ 



1943. 



Fig. 1941 will sln.w h.tr.r t 

 the plant should look aft.r i 

 Repotting, when inr.ssar 

 details with potliim' its, It 

 time to do it, even wifli s|,r. 

 Carefully remove all the- (.!■ 

 so as not to injure the root 



best implement for the purpose.' Then replace as care 

 fully with newmaterial in a clean pot. The undersigned 



lescribe how 



pntical in it)s 

 is the best 

 r in the fall. 

 iier material, 

 pointed stick being the 



well netted with roots as in Fig. 1943, and particularly 

 if most of them have lost the fresh creamy white color 

 of healthy "working" roots, then the plant must be at 

 once shifted, or it will .soon reach that stage which is 

 the bane of the careless plant - grower; viz., "pot- 

 bound." 



" Knocking out " is the technical term used by florists 

 to describe the turning of a plant out of a pot. The best 

 wav to do this is to take the pot in the right hand, 

 invert it in passing it to the left, as the plant should be 

 ida.L-d briw.-.n I lie index and middle fingers of the left 

 liand, uivc ilif p.rt a smart tap on its rim on the edge 

 i.f the binrh and tlie ballot soil is separated from the 

 pot; place tin plant ill a Hat ready for the purpose, and 

 repeat. On.' lap i- all ihat is necessary in ninety nine 

 cases out ..t a liiin.l i . d. 1 1 is liad practice to get into the 

 habit of Kivin;.' a ^.li.s ..I taps, as it makes slow work. 

 We are ei.n,~nl.riiin now the first shift, i. e., from a 



Til. 





been knocked out, the next opera- 

 tion is ti. "shuuhler" them. This consists of removing 

 the shoul.ler or edge of the ball of soil with the thumb 

 and foretingerdown to where the roots begin. Fig. 19-14. 

 The object of this is obvious, to remove leached-out soil 

 and supply a fresh, nutritious portion in its place, so as 

 to get the gr.-at.'st j...ssibl,. advantage from shifting. 

 Ev.:rMl,i,,,"K. M,.- i„;,d, ,,:m1>. tli.-..p.-rat,.r pr..<aaals by 

 l'">' " ' ! -' ' ' ■ "' 'I- I"'"-" '■!■ Hi- 1-1 s»lh- 



the pot, til. 11 masp I 

 middle flng. IS ..( , a, h 

 side of the plant at rig 

 pot about a half-inch 

 and set it back on the 

 bench with a smart rap, 

 pressing with the 

 thumbs at the same 

 time; change the 

 thumbs to right angles 

 with their former posi- 

 tion and press again, 



the 



age 



irist's trade when plants 

 e transferred to larger 

 Its. See Fig. 1942. When 

 *■ plant exhausts the soil 

 the small pot it must 



afra.-ii..n .11 111. pLiiii s maintain growth. The 

 height i.s !,lio.vii.; trained eye detects at a 



glance by the appearance 

 of the plant when it requires a "shift." Those lacking 

 such training can discover it by turning the plant out of 

 the pot and examining the roots. (See Pig. 194.S.) If 

 the outside of the ball of soil on the lower portion is 



press where they have 

 not touched already 

 three pressures of the 

 thumbs and the rap on 

 the bench, and the op- 

 eration is done. A 

 smart operator with 

 two bovs will shift 5,- 

 Ono plants in 10 hours. 

 This amount of work is 

 made possible only by eliminating all unnecessary mo- 

 tions and making them synchronous with each hand in 

 reaching for soil. i>ot and plant as described. One hand 

 should not be idle while the other is employed. See 

 Figs. 1945-9 for good and bad examples of potting. 



Be careful in shifting not to set the plants too deep. 

 The tendency of roots is downward, and only enough of 

 the stem to steady the plant in the pot should be in the 

 soil. Plants set too deeply in the pots are easily over- 

 watered, because so much soil is not within the influ- 

 V plaids which root from the 

 . -ct (l.'.p.r than such plants 

 lisias. palms and all plants 

 y downward. 



shift at one time; that is, do 

 a 2-inch pot to a 5- or 6-inch. 

 (■ is best, especially for com- 

 iaiits are grown to be shipped 

 .• places soft-wooded plants 

 from 2- to 4-inch pots and 

 iiestion of shipping does not 

 .!■ safe even with these to do 

 ,'rowtli is slower and the days 



U'-.-n "'"-'.'. -l'H''n'i.r never be 



are growing shorter. Hai 

 palms, azaleas, etc., and e 

 shifted more than an inch a 

 not to .shift them later tli 

 The spring is the liest tinii 



