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Time to Repot?


NCFM

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These sabal seedlings (minor, causiarum, and mexicana) are all around 1 and a half years old, and their roots are beginning to bust through the bottom of their 12inch deep grow bags.  Should I try and repot them now, or is it late enough in the growing season that I'd be better off waiting until next spring? These are actually the first palms I've ever grown up from seed, so I figured I'd ask for advice here before making any hasty decisions.  

Here are pictures of some of them:

seedlings2.jpg.bad244f730381e35a02bd2f0a8a87c23.jpg

seedlings1.jpg.920d6440a65fc03d3de2a653317ca12b.jpg

causroots.jpg.ac80f33ecc988640303bbc0602bf70c0.jpg

 

 

 

I also have some cdp seedlings that are growing very vigorously.  I'm assuming out of all of them these are the most in need of being repotted?

 

cdp.jpg.994f90587ea35b34887420bbf0af2f63.jpg

cdproots.jpg.f105df9559a17e7b051761e9fb1bfcf0.jpg

 

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53 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I think it's still warm enough to repot. They need it. 

Would you recommend repotting them in 1-gallon pots, or something even bigger? Hopefully the roots have filled up the grow bags enough that it will be easy to transplant them without the rootball falling apart. 

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Just now, NCFM said:

Would you recommend repotting them in 1-gallon pots, or something even bigger? Hopefully the roots have filled up the grow bags enough that it will be easy to transplant them without the rootball falling apart. 

Maaaaaaan I am not an expert. I'm still a newbie myself. Having said that, I don't think 1g is gonna be big enough, especially considering how long those roots are. Your green homeys are trying to blow up and they need room. What size are their bags?

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On 8/13/2022 at 10:52 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Maaaaaaan I am not an expert. I'm still a newbie myself. Having said that, I don't think 1g is gonna be big enough, especially considering how long those roots are. Your green homeys are trying to blow up and they need room. What size are their bags?

They're about 3/5 of a gallon, and 10-12in deep

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4 hours ago, NCFM said:

They're about 3/5 of a gallon, and 10-12in deep

Yikes. I don't know much about Sabals but those are some roots. My deepest pot is a 7g and it's only 14" tall. 

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When I see roots that size coming out the bottom holes, I like to repot. On the other hand, palms usually don’t mind crowded roots for a half a season or so. You still have time to repot now, but don’t wait much longer, you’ll want the palm to acclimate and root into the new size (2 or 3 gal) before the weather cools off. If you have the soil and space to store over winter, go for it. If not, you’ll be fine until spring. Those roots may become air-pruned, but it shouldn’t hurt the palm in the short term to spring. I just up-potted most of my green house (about 50 palms from solo cup size into 1 gallons) this past weekend. If yours have been in the same soil for 1.5 years, then I would re-pot now.

 

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30 minutes ago, Fishinsteeg234 said:

When I see roots that size coming out the bottom holes, I like to repot. On the other hand, palms usually don’t mind crowded roots for a half a season or so. You still have time to repot now, but don’t wait much longer, you’ll want the palm to acclimate and root into the new size (2 or 3 gal) before the weather cools off. If you have the soil and space to store over winter, go for it. If not, you’ll be fine until spring. Those roots may become air-pruned, but it shouldn’t hurt the palm in the short term to spring. I just up-potted most of my green house (about 50 palms from solo cup size into 1 gallons) this past weekend. If yours have been in the same soil for 1.5 years, then I would re-pot now.

 

Thanks for the advice. They've been in those grow bags since germination, so I'll try and repot as many as I can before I leave this weekend for college.  I plan to overwinter them in our basement under grow lights like I did last year, so cool weather shouldn't be an issue for them while they're recovering from transplant. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Were you able to save their roots when you repotted? I'm late to this thread so I sure hope you have better success than I did. I can't tell what material your pots are made of but years ago I had a similar situation with several Sabal minors in fabric pots. They had roots coming out so it was time to upgrade, but Sabals really hate to have their roots disturbed. Peeling away the fabric pot meant losing hundreds of tiny roots that were against it and the plants died not long after. I wisened up only for the final few and stuck them into the ground as they were, fabric pot and all.  

Give us an update when you see them next. 

Edited by 5am
material
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In my experience, sabals grow slower when they are planted in smaller pots to begin with and don’t have room for the roots to develop. I like to put them in one gallon pots pretty early on 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/24/2022 at 1:40 PM, 5am said:

Were you able to save their roots when you repotted? I'm late to this thread so I sure hope you have better success than I did. I can't tell what material your pots are made of but years ago I had a similar situation with several Sabal minors in fabric pots. They had roots coming out so it was time to upgrade, but Sabals really hate to have their roots disturbed. Peeling away the fabric pot meant losing hundreds of tiny roots that were against it and the plants died not long after. I wisened up only for the final few and stuck them into the ground as they were, fabric pot and all.  

Give us an update when you see them next. 

The grow bags were plastic, so I was able to use a box cutter to cut them open while keeping root disturbance at a minimum.  I visited home over Labor Day Weekend and so far so good, they seem to be adjusting well. 

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