Initial inspection
The main purpose of container plants is to enhance your garden by creating stunning focal points and features – so take a critical look at the divas of your garden. If they’re in bad shape, relegate scruffy plants to the compost heap and decrepit containers to the rubbish bin! Replacing these plants might burn a hole in your pocket, but it’ll be a worthwhile investment as fresh, healthy plants will provide an instant face-lift to your outdoors.
Containers worth keeping should be scrubbed and disinfected before you do any replanting. Dump old soil in the compost heap or on the garden, firstly making sure it’s not contaminated with mealy bug (small white clusters of insects and white thread). If mealy bug is present, dispose of the soil in your rubbish bin to stop it from spreading.
Quick Fix
Plants that have been in their pots for a year or so but are essentially healthy will still benefit from a freshen up.
Scrape off the top 5 to 10cm of potting mix, taking care not to damage surface roots, and replace it with fresh, quality container mix. Add some water crystals and SaturAid to help with any moisture retention and absorption. Apply some controlled-release fertiliser and water the plant thoroughly. Trim any straggly growth to reshape the plant and finish off with a decorative mulch of pebbles, coloured glass or shells.
Alternatively, plant ground-cover plants or colourful annuals in the top of the container.
More complicated
Those plants that look a little worse for wear but are salvageable, may need to be repotted or treated for pests. Yellowing leaves and little or no new growth points to the plant being root-bound. Check the base of the pot to see if roots are growing through the drainage holes. Badly root-bound plants will also have roots circling the top of the pot and can sometimes be so tightly restrained that you may have to break the pot to get the plant out!
Cut off circling roots and move the plant to a larger-sized pot with fresh potting mix. Trim the plant back to compensate for the loss of roots. Water, feed and mulch as described above.
If plants are not visibly root-bound but still look sickly, check for signs of pests and disease. Check growing tips and flower buds for aphids; leaf sheaths for mealy bug; and stems and undersides of leaves for scale insect.
Black “sooty mould” may also be growing on the leaves if any of these insects are present, as they all produce a sticky substance called honey dew, which can act as a host to sooty-mould fungus. Spray your infected plants with a suitable insecticide and revive as above with a layer of fresh potting mix, feeding and mulching.
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