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