How to Check a Potted Plant Before Buying It

Spring and fall are popular times to buy plants for the garden, but anytime of the year you may find yourself at the nursery or home/garden center looking for those perfect potted plants to add to your flower garden or for in-house display. The initial appearance of the plant may appear good, but there are ways to check a potted plant before buying it to better ensure that you are selecting a healthy plant that will thrive once you plant it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Where you buy plants can be an indication of their quality. Nurseries are the most reputable place to purchase potted plants. With their business name and repeat customers riding on the quality of their plants, they are the most likely to offer the highest quality plants. Big name home and garden centers like Lowes and Home Depot are the next best place to shop.

2. Look for full, dense foliage on the potted plant. If a flowering plant, look for a mixture of buds and blooms. The blooms will identify the color of the plant. And by choosing a mixture of buds and blooms, you can better ensure that as you deadhead fading blooms, you will have soon have bursting flowers to take their place. Even reputable plant dealers may offer older potted plants for sale, possibly at a reduced price. If it is a perennial flower, which can be cut back, then age may not matter. The appearance older potted plants may be sparse foliage, yellowing, brittle stems or blooming very early in the season, like mums with fading blooms in early September. In the case of the mums, the spent flowers can be deadheaded and new blooms will follow, but it may be several weeks.

3. Lift the leaves of the plant and look for any indication of bugs or mildew.

4. Examine the plant for wilting or if the soil has pulled away from the sides of the pot. This can be indication of over or under watering. Success in growing a plant that was not properly watered is limited so it is best not to buy them.

5. Look at the bottom of the pot. If roots are showing, that is an indication of being root bound—in a pot too small for growth. Though you may have success with this type of plant by cutting into the root system and unwinding the bound roots, your odds for success are greater if you start with a potted plant that is not root bound.

[femwriter]

on 9/30/2009 This is a valuable information on how to check a potted plant before buying. Thanks for writing this article. 5* plus recommendation!

[goodselfme]

on 9/28/2009 TX for helping me to know how to check potted plants before buying.