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  rootbound/potbound
From: Don Martinson <llmen at wi.rr.com> on 2010.09.05 at 00:50:31(21386)
There are some plants which seem to bloom better when they feel “stressed”. Dieing trees often put out a final burst of seed in hopes of passing on their genes.

One personal observation: After spending the afternoon cleaning out some areas of my garden I can see that just because a plant may be located in “open ground” so to speak, there is often plenty of competition from the roots of nearby plants. To what degree this equates with the physiological effects of being planted in a smaller sized container, I can’t really say. The roots of a plant in a smaller pot will probably warm up faster during the day, which might be of benefit for some.

Regarding the issue of availability of oxygen; wouldn’t whether the plant is in a clay or plastic pot play a role here? Just some thoughts.

Don Martinson

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From: "Daniel Devor" <plantguy at zoominternet.net> on 2010.09.06 at 02:22:22(21403)
Steve, I think that many growers of palms indicate that they should be grown very rootbound in a pot to have any sort of success. In fact, there is a school of thought (not sure how prevalent it is) that you should "pot plant" a palm as it dramatically reduces the stress on the plant and it will eventually break out of the pot in to the surrounding soil.

I grow most of my South African geophytes in very small pots with virtually no soil, but this is to prevent any sort of rot in my far from South African climate ;o)

I really think there is an entire physics of soil that would need to be thoroughly explored in any serious discussion of this and I would guess there are entire textbooks written on the subject, not that I have read any of them. Clearly the physics of water flow is entirely different in a pot vs in the ground and in a tall vs a shallow container, etc., etc.

Best of luck with your article,

Dan

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