POTBOUND CONDITIONS AND POTTING 
One of the most important factors determining the amount of bloom 
found in our greenhouses, when soil, light and humidity are favorable, 
is the degree to which a plant is potbound. Potbound meaning the con- 
dition that exists when a plants root system developes to the extent 
that the roots finally crawl around the outside of the soil and touch the 
pot in the search for food. To determine when a plant is potbound, re- 
move it from the pot, and if the soil remains together and the roots 
are showing, your plant has arrived at this stage, and is ready for a 
larger pot. The foregoing paragraph brings us to the topic of pot sizes. 
The common tendency is to put a small plant into a large pot. This how- 
ever is the wrong thing to do, since we have already told you that you 
will get far more bloom from a large plant in a small pot. Regarding 
pot sizes, when a cutting is taken from the rooting medium it is placed 
in a 2 or 2 1/4'' pot with good soil and no fertilizers added. Likewise 
a 2'' pot is again used when a cutting is divided. Cuttings should be 
potted in single crowns to get the best in bloom and conformation. 
When your plants have reached the potbound stage and are ready to 
be repotted, we graduate only 1'' at a time, from a 2"' toa 3" and a 
3'' to a 4"' pot. Rarely does a Violet plant exceed a 5"' pot. Repotting 
a plant when it has sufficiently filled the original pot with roots is a 
must, to promote healthy and attractive developement. In the case of 
taking a cutting from the rooting medium, care should be taken to shake 
most of the vermiculite or sand from the roots, without damaging them 
in any way. A fairly coarse soil is best, for you don’t want the soil too 
firmly packed around the roots. The soaking of the soil will tend to 
settle it enough to provide a firm but porous growing medium. By 
tapping the bottom of the pot on a solid surface, you can settle the soil 
enough to give it a good physical condition for the tiny roots to filter 
through and develop in. 
The depth of the cutting should be close enough to the surface so the 
shoots don’t have too far to travel, thus reducing the danger of rotting 
to a minimum. In all phases of potting the soil should come within 
1/4'' from the top of the pot, the latter to provide room for fertilizing 
and treating with Selenate etc. When the cutting has attained the size 
that you can easily distinguish each individual crown it is ready to be 
divided. Better results will be gained if you do not allow the cuttings 
to get too long and spindly before dividing them. The heighth of from one 
to one and a half inches is preferred. Here again the 2"' or 2 1/4"' pot 
is the most desirable to use. Remove the cutting from the pot with all 
roots intact and gently pull the cutting apart at the base of the plant, 
trying to retain all the roots that you possibly can on each crown. 
Your ability to divide cuttings will depend on your patience, in Sep- 
arating roots and leaf stems. Extreme care at this time will pay you 
well in the amount of plants you get from a cutting. After dividing you 
are now ready to pot. Again we stress the importance of not packing 
your soil around the tiny new plants too firmly. The transition from a 
cutting to a single crown plant is done when the plant is at the most 
rapid and tender stage of development. This is the time you will either 
start a healthy plant or kill one by excluding the necessary oxygen from 
the soil by packing it too tightly. By holding the plant over the center 
