A tangle of roots of a pot-grown plant of Buddleja globosa, the Orange Ball Tree; a native of Chile and Argentina. The plant is pot-bound; prolonged c

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A tangle of roots of a pot-grown plant of Buddleja globosa, the Orange Ball Tree; a native of Chile and Argentina. The plant is pot-bound; prolonged culture in a flower-pot has resulted in the roots filling the container. As the roots reach the edges of the pot, they continue to grow, eventually showing no geotropism due to the restricted space. Instead they from a tangled mass encircling the soil within the pot. In good horticultural practice, this condition should be forestalled by repotting or planting out. A pot bound plant put into open ground will often fail to produce an extensive and deep root system, resulting in poor growth of the plant and possible death due to failure to access sufficient water and nutrients. This picture shows the predominantly horizontal orientation of the roots at the bottom of the pot. The normal habit of young roots of this type is to grow downwards

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Size: 5212px × 3468px
Photo credit: © DR JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ball, buddleja, geotropism, globosa, horticulture, orange, pot-bound, pot-grown, root, tree