Hello everyone,
I was reading a while back on the gallery and someone brought
up a theory that a tree's trunk will thicken faster in a
container than in the ground because all of the roots are
receiving fertilizer since they are contained in the pot and
therefore the tree gets more food and grows faster.
What's your take? Does this make sense?

===========

Luis is right. Don't believe all you read -- here or anywhere
else. Too many of us here tend to make pronouncements based on
third-hand information and NOT on experience.

In bonsai soil, about half of all fertilizer you apply flows
right through the pot. Assuming you fertilize a tree in the
ground, it has nowhere to go except where the roots can grow to
get to it -- though most of the nitrogen will leach away in a few
days. The P and the K will stick around MUCH longer, and they're
what counts (mostly) when it comes to woody growth. And even if
you don't fertilize a tree in the ground, most "native" soil has
an adequate supply of nutrients to support a small tree.

It is the fact that a tree's root have virtually unlimited
growing room that helps to fatten trunks so quickly when a tree
is in the ground -- NOT the amount of fertilizer you give it.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - This economy
is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. - Gaylord
Nelson, 1995

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