In article , Sacha
writes
On 5/8/05 23:28, in article
, "Ron"
wrote:

As a newbie gardener I have recently planted a young small Goldcrest conifer
in a large pot. My friend, who is a more experienced gardener says that the
pot is to big and that the conifer will die. In my confessed ignorance I am
unable to see why this should be the case?
Any comments/ advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.


I'll try to, if I may. ;-) The advice from Mike Lyle is the best offered
and the best explanation. He is absolutely correct.
As you're a newbie gardener, I hope you will find urg the excellent source
of information it is to both newbies and the highly experienced. But you
will need to 'filter' the answers for a while to see who really knows what
they're talking about and who doesn't! Over-potting (e.g. Too large a pot)
can indeed kill plants off. It's not inevitable but it is a danger.

If you are really committed to the large pot, then you can put other
plants in with the conifer, nothing too overwhelming, and remove them as
the conifer grows.

Obviously everything in there will be competing with the conifer for
nutrient, and you'll need to either fertilise regularly or renew the
soil every now and again (some people will do both).

But I don't think leaving the conifer on its own would make the
nutrients last particularly longer as you'll have rain and water form
watering washing through the soil.

One advantage of the larger pot is that you won't need to water so often
as it won't dry out as quickly, and conifers tend to be sensitive to
drought. But a large area of unused soil in a pot is not a good idea.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"