Repotting
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:21:14 PDT)

I looked for the reference from a historical post, but can't find it.
Someone recommended potting to a larger pot when the plant was
already in growth, carefully moving it to a deeper pot keeping the
leaves at the same level but giving more room for the roots so the
plant would grow better. I think it probably always depends on what
it is. I've followed the advice successfully with seedlings that
weren't going to grow very fast in the one year pot, but were so
small that I didn't want to unpot them. I'm sure that has meant they
have bloomed in less time. I waited until they were in good growth to
move them up. I've also divided Iris already in growth to thin them
out successfully and potted up Lilium species. On the other hand
sometimes when I've waited too long to repot and have dumped out a
pot the bulb or corm has already started to grow. I'm not sure how
much harm this has caused except when the new shoot has broken off in
the process. That can't be a good thing, but I couldn't figure out a
safe way of determining if a new shoot was grown. After our great
freeze a number of years ago, some things that looked like they had
died produced new leaves so perhaps they have recovered.

In looking for the reference as always with this list I've found
conflicting information about what size pot to use, how deep to pot,
etc. The correct answer to most questions probably always is, "It
depends". ( Factors are your soil mix, your climate including
temperatures, rainfall, humidity, your own habits, the size and kind
of container, the needs of specific plants, etc.) People have success
with a lot of different methods.

Mary Sue