Do they do okay in smaller pots or should I switch these out for larger pots? I want them to grow as large as possible. This is the watermelon coleus from seed.

I would wait until the top is about twice the size of the pot. Then move them up a couple of inches.

Or, if they get big enough that you find they wilt before you get to watering, a bigger pot would help. They look great, and I assume you will fertilize too, to get them big.

Coleus can be kept from year to year, treated like trees and repotted on a regular basis. You can get some relief from the stress of root congestion if you pot up at appropriate intervals, but the only thing that fully relieves root congestion and the limiting of resources the congestion causes is a full repot, which includes removal of most of the soil from roots, pruning roots, and repotting into fresh soil.

If you pot up well before the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot w/o the soil falling away from the roots, you can get by w/o a full repot.











Al

Hi @Injusticehope

I think it partly depends on how much time and space you want to give them.

If they were mine and I wanted to grow them as large as possible I would up-pot the one on the right. It's branching well and expanding. I think it is approaching potbound (meaning the roots have reached the edges and bottom of the pot).

The one on the left could wait a little longer but in my experience coleus do fine when planted in larger pots than "needed", I have planted rooted cuttings into 10" pots (multiple cuttings) I wanted to fill. They grew rampantly!

Al @tapla , I've never seen a coleus bonsai! Creative and striking. What age is it? Thanks for sharing!

Pat

Hi, Pat. Thanks for asking. The little coleus bonsai is 3 years and a couple of months old. It was started from a cutting because roots of cuttings are generally more attractive and symmetrical than roots of seedlings, and the root structure (at least the visible parts [nebari]) of plants treated as bonsai is important to the composition. The plant lived outdoors in summer, under lights and controlled humidity during the darker months. It's pretty difficult to get them to last more than 3 years. The same holds true for this common garden plant:


Al