sorce
Nonsense Rascal
If you fertilize like you spell pondbasket....
You're trees aren't going to grow much.
Sorce
Growing pre bonsai in pots.
- Thread starter GroveKeeper
- Start date
If you fertilize like you spell pondbasket....
You're trees aren't going to grow much.
Sorce
Cypress187
Masterpiece
Oh, I missed a few letters there. I compensate my bad spelling with good fertilizing
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
Not much honest. Here I am using my own free draining Nursery mix. The plants that require more water also get a deep tray like Bald Cypress and the tray stays full. Everything else just gets placed in a proper light condition for the plant, watered, treated, and fertilized as needed. The pots I buy vary in size and I have been using the heavier walled plastic/rubber types now as they keep the plants and roots stable better then the thin plastic. If I receive healthy starter plant they normally do real good. For almost everything I am now using Bayer 3 in 1 Rose & Flower Care in granular form. It has a slow release grains, not the pods, and contains fertilizer, pesticide, and fungicide so spray and dosing is minimal.
Grimmy
eferguson1974
Chumono
Trivial pursuit pieces work better....
DougB
Chumono
You need use a shallow pot. I put mine in bulb pots with more rough organic than inorganic. I have a good source of good bulb pots if any one happens to be interested.
eferguson1974
Chumono
Question: how can a pot be too big for a plant or tree? If you want to grow them out, doesnt it make more sence to give them lots of room? If a quart size pot will do, wouldnt a gallon do even better? Less repotting should mean less disturbing the roots. Or am I mistaken, which happened once before?
BethF
Mame
If the pot's volume is a lot greater than the mass of the roots, the roots won't be capable of taking up water efficiently. The soil will stay soggy too long and then there's the danger of root rot. So you've got to increase the size of the pot incrementally for the overall health and development of the plant.
One thing I sometimes do is cut down a nursery pot to about 5 or 6 inches tall so the roots remain shallow. When you do that, of course, the roots will always being growing in a shallow environment. Which is good when you get to the point that you want to put the plant in a bonsai pot. Say a plant is ready for a one quart pot. Figure out the volume of the pot, then get a larger pot that will have approximately the same volume once it's six inches high. The shallower pot also has a lower center of gravity, which helps prevent the trees from blowing over on the bench.
Ivan Spasic
Seedling
Growing in pots takes much more time and tree trunk will never be as thick. I had some ash, oak and scots pine, both in pots and in ground, grown from seeds, planted at a same time. Two years later difference was stunning. I guess, one of the main reasons is that plants, especially trees, don't like to be moved. Ever. Other, more obvious reason is more space for roots to grow and more stable temperature and humidity of the ground. And if there is not enough water, roots just grow deeper in search for it.
eferguson1974
Chumono
Thank you for explaining. Theres an example of intuition being wrong! Because they dont like repotting, I figured bigger was better.. Guess not. So, how do you know its time? And if you keep doing it and the roots have room, seems like they would grow just as fast but thats not the case. I have a couple bougies in colanders and some similar sized in the ground about two weeks now, so assuming they live, I can document their progress. In pots or colanders they get regular controled water all year. Here its dry for five or six months. Will that make up the differance? Should be a good experiment. I should stick one in my aquaponics bed too so I have a better experiment..so far trees seem to like it.
armetisius
Chumono
Yes; you are correct. Bark and compost are cheap. Under non-experienced hands it can be
'tricky' to balance the watering throughout the root ball. Especially Summers. But can be done.
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Eric Group
Masterpiece
I have experienced the opposite over short periods of time, like 1-2 years... After a longer time- 5 years+- the differences seem to catch up and ground growing leads to bigger trees but I think the quality of your soil has a lot to do with it and mine at my current home is garbage! Sand with hard packed yellow clay below it- the worst possible pretty much... So I can get quicker results with good dirt in pots normally it seems..
Potawatomi13
Imperial Masterpiece
!
Ivan Spasic
Seedling
I couldn't agree more.
jeremy_norbury
Omono
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18612661
Quoting this article:
Within as little as two weeks of seeds being sown, the scientist explained, a plant's roots would stretch to the edge of the pot and then, "the trouble starts". "When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to the shoots to say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."
Each plant appeared to be trying to escape its pot; more than three quarters of the root system was in the outer half of the container.
"The inside of the pot is hardly used," explained Dr Poorter.
"Even the largest pot was not large enough not to limit growth."
So when I grow anything in a pot - it's because I specifically want a small bonsai. This was entirely developed in a pot. https://www.flickr.com/photos/norbury/sets/72157628195965627
Quoting this article:
Within as little as two weeks of seeds being sown, the scientist explained, a plant's roots would stretch to the edge of the pot and then, "the trouble starts". "When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to the shoots to say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."
Each plant appeared to be trying to escape its pot; more than three quarters of the root system was in the outer half of the container.
"The inside of the pot is hardly used," explained Dr Poorter.
"Even the largest pot was not large enough not to limit growth."
So when I grow anything in a pot - it's because I specifically want a small bonsai. This was entirely developed in a pot. https://www.flickr.com/photos/norbury/sets/72157628195965627
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Cut down baby pools.
Just sayin.
Sorce
Just sayin.
Sorce
Jeremy, not opposing but I can't trust this scientific statement. Why are then roots circling in pots and grow until all offered space is occupied?
jeremy_norbury
Omono
Sorry, you can't say you don't disagree and then go on to say you don't trust the scientific findings.
The point you make has nothing to do with the point of the article - roots reaching the barrier of the pot and causing a slowdown in growth. That the roots then go around the pot sides is not the point.
Here is the scientific paper which serves as the basis for the BBC article. It is a meta-study of 65 other scientific articles where differences in growth are noticed in pots.
Section 3 is particularly interesting.
Conclusions
A meta-analysis of the effects of pot size on growth shows that on average a doubling of the pot size results in 43% more biomass. In most cases reduced growth in small pots will be caused by a reduction in net photosynthesis.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
@petegreg
Not the roots stop growing.
"When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to THE SHOOTS to say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."
The shoots stop growing....which makes sense, because the tree knows it can't support more top without more bottom.
Of course...it seems that signal goes away as they circle.
I dug my herbs last year and found 90% of the roots growing in my drainage layer.
Only things with the roots like that of boxwood, seem to actually fill pots in my experience.
Just some thoughts.
Sorce
Not the roots stop growing.
"When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to THE SHOOTS to say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."
The shoots stop growing....which makes sense, because the tree knows it can't support more top without more bottom.
Of course...it seems that signal goes away as they circle.
I dug my herbs last year and found 90% of the roots growing in my drainage layer.
Only things with the roots like that of boxwood, seem to actually fill pots in my experience.
Just some thoughts.
Sorce
Hi, you 're right I can't scientifically prove anything against what 65 scientists have found out. I can only say what I see - my trees growing in pots. Sure, in the slower rate than in the ground.
@sorce, I understand. But why then do the trees grown in the pots have more
flushes of growth a year (just like those in the ground) and why do they sprout and grow next spring again without repotting? Why are the wires biting in?
I think there's sth in between... restricted growth.
@sorce, I understand. But why then do the trees grown in the pots have more
flushes of growth a year (just like those in the ground) and why do they sprout and grow next spring again without repotting? Why are the wires biting in?
I think there's sth in between... restricted growth.
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...this makes sense.
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