spoonbill wrote:
I've just returned from holidaying in Mallorca. When I was there I
noticed that quite a lot of people had small trees in pots. Shops were
selling seeds that they said could be grown in pots. They were not
described as dwarf trees or suitable for bonsai but were described as
suitable for containers.
When I got home I looked the trees up on the internet and found that
some of them grow quite large. Now I'm wondering if the trees will
simply stay small if they are kept in containers or if I will need to
apply bonsai methods to keep them small.
I believe that keeping trees in containers can stunt their growth but
on the other hand I think they may just become pot bound.
If I need to apply bonsai methods how do I do this? Am I right in
thinking that you let the tree grow for a couple of years and then
prune it back to about half its lenth together with pruning out large
roots to encourage a large number of small roots instead. Do I then
repeat this process each year, pruning back most of each years growth
to just a couple of buds?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
By the way the tree seeds I purchased we
-an Olive tree called olivio mallorquin
-Chamaerops humilis (European fan palm)
-Washingtonia filifera (Californian fan palm or cotton palm)
-Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island date palm)
Martin
The true olive is in genus Olea. I can't find anything about
Olivio mallorquin.
The palms can be grown in a large pot or other container for many
years. With their roots confined, they will grow very slowly.
I have a Washingtonia filifera in a 12-inch pot on my front
walkway. I dug it out of a flower bed as a "volunteer" seedling
more than 10 years ago. It never has more than 4-5 leaves at a
time.
I root-pruned it once a few years ago so that I could renew some of
the potting mix. It recovered quite well. Palms have adventitious
roots; that means their roots all form from the base of the plant
without any taproot.
The major problem is that a stiff breeze will tip my palm, plant
and pot together. A larger pot might solve this problem, but I
don't want to block the walkway.
--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at URL:http://www.rossde.com/garden/
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