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?

Audgen (zone 7)

If you grow in the ground you have to watch more carefully as the trunk
diameter increases, but you don't get much taper unless you vigorously chop
back and create new, thinner leaders. When you have a plant in a pot, it
grows more slowly and taper is easier to achieve. Also, with a
possibility of having an easier eye level view, one could tend the plant
easier. So it is a toss up. Pot culture could get you a bonsai quicker,
but it might be smaller. Ground culture will get you a fat tree, but it
might not be as good a bonsai without proper attention. I have lost much
good material by not pruning it back in the ground.

Kitsune Miko

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