Hi Tiny Gardener here…
If you’ve been following me you’ll know I’ve been growing some chillies in a little pot on my windowsill. I’ve got a few chillies on the plant and since the weather’s been so sunny for the last week or so I was excited to see them grow.
But…they haven’t grown and the leaves have begun to turn yellow too so I’ve been wondering what’s wrong with the plant. I moved it to the conservatory a few weeks ago so it’s got a nice bit of warmth and sunshine in the day and I’ve been watering it regularly.
I decided to investigate and when I removed the plant from its pot I noticed the roots had not grown a huge amount. I pulled the soil apart very gently so as not to disturb too many of the roots and noticed that there were still some remnants of the bio pot in tact. Perhaps the roots were restricted by this and didn’t have the space to establish themselves properly. It’s possible that initially I may have underwatered, and that’s why the roots couldn’t get through the bio-pot, because the pot itself would have been quite tough to break through if it was very dry. When I noticed it wasn’t growing properly, I may have started overwatering the poor thing. Due to its smaller than necessary root structure the plant wasn’t able to use the water properly and therefore the plant started to struggle.
Feeling a bit sad for my chilli plant I have decided to replant it into a slightly bigger pot to give the roots plenty of space for spreading, using lovely fresh compost to make sure there are as many nutrients as possible.
I started to wonder about the best way to deal with plants in bio-pots and thought that next time I would make sure to peel off the bottom of the pot before planting to make sure that the plant had plenty of chance to establish a good root system. I would also make sure that I keep it well watered while the plant gets settled into its new pot/bed.
I am learning so much about how to troubleshoot when things don’t work out the way you expect. I’m hoping the little pampering I’ve done today will help the chillies on their way, I’ll keep you posted to let you know how they’re getting on.