Container Gardening- Tips on How To Choose Healthy Plants


by Gerry Fung - Date: 2007-03-04 - Word Count: 353 Share This!

Container gardening is a method of growing portable plants that might otherwise be impossible to cultivate because of unsuitable soil or climatic conditions. Container gardening caters to your imagination because it asks that you combine plants of all colors, shapes, and textures toegether to enhance an existing garden. There are virtually an unlimited number of pots and plants that you can use to create your canvas, which means that every taste and style can be catered to.

One of the keys to a successful container display is the choice of healthy plants. Healthy plants make for longer-lasting, lower-maintenance, and more vibrant displays. Therefore, before you head off to your local garden center, you need to know what types of plants you're looking for, and you need to know how to distinguish between the healthy and unhealthy plants. To follow are some tips that can be followed on how to pick out healthy plants for that perfect display.

1. GENERAL CONDITION OF PLANTS

Avoid plants that do not look healthy on first inspection. The moss and weeds growing on the surface of the potting mis indicate that the plant has been in its pot for too long. Spots and speckles on the leaves may indicate damage from pests and diease.

2. POTBOUND ROOTS

Ensure that the roots of the plant are not packed in a tight mesh because buying it. Plants packed in a tight mesh will take longer to establish itself in a container display. Check this by lifting the plant out of the potted container.

3. YELLOWING LEAVES

This is a sign that the plant is undernourished or has root problems. Once a plant has used up all the nitrogen in its potting mix, nitrogen will be carried away from the older leaves to the younger ones (causing the older ones to turn yellow).

4. LEGGY STEMS

If plants do not have access to sufficient light, their stems will extend in an attempt to reach a light source. This may lead to growth which the plant is unable to support because the stems will become weak, easy to break, and susceptible to fungal attack.

This gardening tip was made available from GardenSuperMart.


Related Tags: planting, container gardening, healthy plants, plant health

Go to GardenSuperMart's guide to container gardening at http://www.gardensupermart.com/advice.asp

GardenSuperMart is a complete resource for all lawn and gardening issues.

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