Potted plants: 5 tips for the perfect start to the season

 In April and May, exotic potted plants are finally allowed to leave their winter quarters and move to the balcony and terrace. 

With these 5 tips your plants are perfectly prepared for the start of the season.

Potted plants spread a holiday atmosphere, inspire with their flowers, scent and dense growth, 

but must be kept frost-free during the winter. 

After their hibernation it is now time to go outside. 

With these tips, you can make Oleander & Co. fit for the start of the new season.

Put out robust potted plants as early as possible

Get fuchsias, geraniums and other wintering potted plants out of the wintering grounds as early as possible, preferably as early as April. 

Then they will flower much earlier in the year. Bright, warm places are ideal, and in warm weather the open field is also ideal. 

However, follow the weather forecast carefully and keep a fleece ready in case of emergency or bring the plants into the house without delay if frost is announced.

Attention: Tub plants get a real shock when they come from the cellar into the blazing sun. 

As there is no sunscreen for plants, put the tubs out in cloudy weather or give your plants a shady place in the first few days. 

After a few days, the leaves will have formed a stronger final tissue and the pots can be put in their final place.

Dead or alive? The quick test at the start of the season

In their winter quarters many potted plants look shaggy, bare and somehow dead. 

But they are usually not! If they have fresh shoots, they are still vital in any case. 

If no fresh shoots or buds can be seen, the so-called crack test provides information as to whether the plant or individual parts of the branches are still alive: Bend over a twig. 

If it breaks with an audible crack, it is dried up and the whole branch section is probably also dried up. 

If this is repeated in several places and the result is the same, the plant is dead. 

If, on the other hand, the branch bends over very far and only breaks with a soft crack, the plant is still alive and just strolls around.

There must also be something cosmetic: Cut off obviously dried out, crossing or inward growing branches as well as horny shoots.

Repotting potted plants? This is how you find out

After a short all-round check, treat your potted plants to new soil if necessary. 

A glance at the root ball will tell you whether a move to a larger pot is necessary: If it is completely rooted through and the roots are already sprouting from the water drainage holes, the time has come. 

You probably had to water every two days last year even in cloudy weather or the pots fell over slightly in the wind. 

Because too little soil makes the pot light and reduces the water storage capacity. 

For very large pots there is the trick with the cake pieces, 

which allows you to use the old pot again: 

Cut two opposite "cake pieces" from the root ball with a long knife, 

put the plant back into the pot and fill up with fresh soil.

Too big potted plants like this Chinese book orange get a new pot and some fresh soil at the beginning of the season

Fertilise potted plants early

After their long winter sleep, potted plants are naturally hungry. 

Freshly repotted plants can help themselves from the nutrient supply of the new soil for four to six weeks, after which they should be fertilized. 

To do this, either add a portion of slow-release fertilizer to the soil or, alternatively, liquid complete fertilizer to the water with each watering. 

For plants that have not been repotted, loosen the soil with a knife and mix a slow release fertilizer into the soil.

Planters on feet against waterlogging and ants

Ants like to conquer the root balls of potted plants in summer. 

The animals have a particularly easy time of it if the tubs stand directly on the ground and can simply pull them in through the water drainage holes. 

Ants do not damage the plants directly, but they create hollow spaces and literally leave the roots hanging there. 

To make matters worse, ants breed aphids because they have a preference for their sweet excrements. 

As a precaution, place small terracotta feet under the pot. 

They make it more difficult for the ants to get in, 

but at the same time they also ensure better ventilation of the soil and prevent waterlogging of the pot.