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I have got some Acanthus Mollis cuttings. I wanted to completely fill a neglected border and have several plants. However on unpotting what I thought were singular plants I quickly realized what I had was several cuttings in each pot, although the roots of some are very enmeshed and intertwined...

I am not sure if it is best to cluster plant each pot, decompressing the roots a bit, but not attempting to disentangle and separate them completely, in order to produce an established clump, or whether I need to carefully separate out each cutting, in which case I have way more than I need...

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MackM
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James
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1 Answers1

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If the number of pots is the number of plants you want, just plant them as is.

If the number of plants you want is somewhat greater than the number of pots you have, unwrap any large roots coiling around the outside as pictured, and slice with a sharp knife what does not easily unwrap to divide as many as it takes to get as many as you want in two, 3 or 4 sections. Since you've already said you don't need as many plants as you have leaves, don't split down to that level. Or indeed at all unless you do want more than you have pots.

It is generally better to cut roots entangled in soil apart rather than disentangling them and breaking off all or most of the fine root hairs in the soil during that process. The fine root hairs are what the plant depends on for nutrient uptake, so preserving as many of them in dirt/soil as possible is important; the cuts will heal.

Ecnerwal
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