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 tr
ee gets more food and grows faster.
What's your take? Does this make sense?

Audgen (zone 7)

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In a message dated 6/7/2003 2:54:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

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?

No, and it doesn't happen.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

In a message dated 6/7/2003 2:54:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

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)



Audgen,
Don't believe everything you read, even from the IBC ;-)
Information is only as good as the knowledge of the person giving it.

Ground growing will fatten the trunk the fastest, in general.

Luis Fontanills
Miami, Florida USA

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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

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?

===========

Luis is right. Don't believe all you read -- here or anywhere
else. Too many of us here tend to make pronouncements based on
third-hand information and NOT on experience.

In bonsai soil, about half of all fertilizer you apply flows
right through the pot. Assuming you fertilize a tree in the
ground, it has nowhere to go except where the roots can grow to
get to it -- though most of the nitrogen will leach away in a few
days. The P and the K will stick around MUCH longer, and they're
what counts (mostly) when it comes to woody growth. And even if
you don't fertilize a tree in the ground, most "native" soil has
an adequate supply of nutrients to support a small tree.

It is the fact that a tree's root have virtually unlimited
growing room that helps to fatten trunks so quickly when a tree
is in the ground -- NOT the amount of fertilizer you give it.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - This economy
is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. - Gaylord
Nelson, 1995

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It is the fact that a tree's root have virtually unlimited
growing room that helps to fatten trunks so quickly when a tree
is in the ground -- NOT the amount of fertilizer you give it.



Last year I set out a fairly large amount of seedlings - Acer and Ulmus.
I set both in pots and in growing beds. Fed them all the same. This was no
experiment and I am no scientist. But, this spring the trees that I put in
the ground are more than half the size bigger than those in pots. There is
not a pot out there that shows a larger seedling than what I have in the
ground. It has always been my experience that the ground produces larger
trees. I am sorry I don't have anything more than muddy boots to back this
up, I don't do statistical reports!

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yes, John, there is no substitute for ground growing for trunk fattening
purposes. Yoshimura used to advocate planting mature bonsai in the ground
every 5 years just for the re-invigoration (my contribution to the
language).
I have an Acer p. which I grew for 10 years in a pot. It did not grow
appreciably all that time. Then I decided to use it in a landscape
composition. By the second season, it doubled in size.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Grotts"
To:
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2003 7:47 AM
Subject: [IBC] Container or ground?




Last year I set out a fairly large amount of seedlings - Acer and Ulmus.
I set both in pots and in growing beds. Fed them all the same. This was
no
experiment and I am no scientist. But, this spring the trees that I put
in
the ground are more than half the size bigger than those in pots. There
is
not a pot out there that shows a larger seedling than what I have in the
ground. It has always been my experience that the ground produces larger
trees. I am sorry I don't have anything more than muddy boots to back
this
up, I don't do statistical reports!


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****
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****
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

************************************************** ******************************
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************************************************** ******************************
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

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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