Securing trees in mesh grow bags

[bwaynef]

I've got some 1 year old japanese maple seedlings that will be up-potted to 1Gal mesh grow bags soon. In the past, I haven't been satisfied with how secure I'm able to get a tree in a grow bag that doesn't already have a substantial rootball. (These won't have a terribly substantive rootball, growing in 4" pots or tray inserts.) Does anyone have any experienced advice they'd like to share? Barring experience, anyone have any good ideas?

 

[River's Edge]

I've got some 1 year old japanese maple seedlings that will be up-potted to 1Gal mesh grow bags soon. In the past, I haven't been satisfied with how secure I'm able to get a tree in a grow bag that doesn't already have a substantial rootball. (These won't have a terribly substantive rootball, growing in 4" pots or tray inserts.) Does anyone have any experienced advice they'd like to share? Barring experience, anyone have any good ideas?

Interestingly enough I started a project with a group of my students this spring. Using a group of last years trident seedlings. Using a 4 inch square tile, drilled a 3/8 inch hole in the centre. Threaded the seedling through and planted in Anderson flats. Six per flat. The thought was to begin an EBIHARA type nebari with the same process used as pouring concrete around a field grown tree to produce even root distribution at the same level. ( choke point ) Plant some at varying angles, that will begin lower movement in the first section of the trunk for development purposes. as the nebari will form on an angle at the choke point.
It seems to me that you could secure the seedling to the tile with raffia and plant and forget for several years. The raffia simply breaks down under the soil so will not create issues with the trunk formation. My plan is to check them in two years and edit the roots before replanting. Hope to see nice flat radial roots for nebari development. Here are a couple of pictures to show progress from first year seedling to growth within the first half of this growing season. I have not checked under the hood but the top growth and trunk thickening appears to be substantial. The height of some seedlings are now over 3 feet from 1foot or less when planted in the tile.
For your purposes the tile will provide stability within the grow bag, the raffia will temporarily hole the seedling tight to the tile, the growth will attach it firmly while the ground layer on the tile produces a good beginning for maple nebari. What do you think? Could this work as a stabilizing method for your purpose and perhaps have a bonus benefit in the end? You will likely have to choose an appropriate tile size for the
chosen grow bags you have.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

You could chop them down to a more stable height during transplant

 

[Maiden69]

When I freshly move a tree into a Rootpouch that will not me able to sustain itself I do a pot-in-pot planting, placing perlite between the pouch and the outside pot, then drill holes on the rim of the pot and anchor the tree with aluminum wire from the trunk or whatever branches the tree may have. I got the idea from @leatherback as he does this with recently removed airlayers.

 

[afranut]

Never tried it but, there is a tie down technique at the end of this video.