Why ants make houses in some pots and not others ? ovais

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Dear All

Alan Walker wrote:

Thanks, Anton. This is a very practical idea... one which makes
me ask, "Now why didn't I think of that?!"

From: anton nijhuis
I gave up on boxes many years ago and find the 'papoose style'
that was first created by Dan Robinson as the cheapest and most
efficient method of training on a tree that is field dug. Chicken

Considering the original source I suspect that it was developed to deal
with large collected trees trees for landscape use.

How does one make sure that enough water gets to the roots?

We live in a dry city with strict water restrictions and so we cannot
spray water around and hope that 10% of it ends up in the soil.

My thoughts would be drippers dotted around the top of the ball, a
sculpted root ball such that there is a doughnut shaped hollow around
the top that can be filled with water or possibly placing the ball in a
shallow tray that is filled with water that would then be drawn into the
ball.

Any other more elegant solutions?

Carl
Cape Town

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Martin wrote:

Greetings,

I've seen in several bonsai books and on the net the use of training boxes
for larger specimens of Yamadori etc. I was wondering what would be the best
timber to use for say a 5 year stint as a training box. My main concern
being timber rot and it's effects on the roots of my plants.
Pine or oak
I use wine botle boxes teh ebst one are made of
cypress wood very hard to work ..


I knocked up one box out of dressed (smooth sanded) pine planks I had laying
around and sealed them with clear varnish but am still somewhat concerned
about the planks rotting.
no vernish sand it awasy


Any tips in regards would be greatly appreciated.
makes holes under or take away sparingly few
strips of an 1" width wood from the bottom ,
than cover the bottom with plastic mosquito
screen fixed with small nails to retain soil
and treat it as a normal plant for the time
needed ; do not repot every other year even
lefed trees should be allowed enought time to
make a good root system and develope canopy
more often you repot the longer it will take

Martin

http://www.easybonsai.it

Thanks Nina for a very illuminating and informative response. Also thanks to
all that replied to my initial and subsequent questions regarding timber
training boxes.

That said, I've opted to stay on the safe side regarding my training boxes
and used a promising sounding product called 'Fungishield'. The
manufacturers (Feas****son) claim the following : "Fungishield is a clear
water repellent penetrating wood preserver ideal for priming new interior
and exterior timber. It has mould and fungus resistant properties and is
designed to stabilise timber to minimise twisting and warping prior to top
coating...." also "Prevents timber against Mould and Decay"

The tin states that the active ingredient is 686g/L Liquid Hydrocarbons.
I figure this should do the trick for a 5 year stint for my 10yo privet.
For those Bonsai enthusiasts in Australia, I bought mine from Bunnings
Hardware for $12.50 a 500ml tin. also comes in 250ml for @ $9.


Martin
South Eastern Australia

"Nina" wrote in message
ups.com...
Here's an elaboration of "apples" and "oranges", Martin:

Because wood is so important, a great deal of research has gone into
the behavior of fungi that attack it. I (as a plant pathologist)
mostly study fungi that attack living trees (pathogens) rather than
those that attack dead wood (saprophytes). But trees are funny in that
only a thin sheath of tissue is alive at any one time: the leaves,
twigs, feeder roots, and the inner bark and a web of tissue in the
outer rings of bark. The rest of the tree is dead. So in addition to
pathogens, plant pathologists have to deal with "heartrot", which is
the rotting of the dead inner wood of a tree which can weaken it
structurally and cause the tree to collapse and die.

If you had a tree in a wooden training box, and the box had rot fungi,
and your tree had jin and shari, you might worry a little. And since
you probably cut off the tree's taproot in order to fit it in the
training box, you should be aware that the dead wood in the center of
the tree is in direct contact with the soil instead of having a layer
of bark to protect it. You see, wood rotters come in two types: brown
rotters and white rotters. Brown rot fungi can digest cellulose; white
rot fungi can digest lignin. But bark contains suberin, and few fungi
can digest that. This is why you use bark for mulch- it lasts a long
time in contact with the soil. And this is why trees cover themselves
with bark, and why they seal wounds instead of just leaving broken wood
exposed.

So I would not call wood rotters and plant pathogens "apples" and
"oranges", but I'd put them on a continuum from "potentially very
harmful" to "mostly harmless but willing to cause problems under the
right conditions". I'd go ahead and use a wooden training box
(although I like the papoose idea a lot), but I'd keep in mind that
wood rotting fungi are opportunistic.

Nina.