We want to put some bamboo plants and also some Conifers in large
buckets (holes drilled for drainage).

Would wood chip (or anything else) be useful to add to the bottom of the
buckets to provide future nutrition when it has rotted down?

On 19/02/20 11:28, john west wrote:
We want to put some bamboo plants and also some Conifers in large
buckets (holes drilled for drainage).

Would wood chip (or anything else) be useful to add to the bottom of the
buckets to provide future nutrition when it has rotted down?

Received wisdom has it that wood chip, bark, and other shredded wood
material /removes/ nitrogen as it rots, but that nitrogen will later
become available to any plant in the pot once composting has completed.
There is a long thread he
https://permies.com/t/58634/urban-myth-woodchips-nitrogen
which discusses the issue (and differences between wood chip added as
mulch, and that put deeper into the soil), which you might find interesting.

To be honest, unless you are planting hundreds of pots, why not just use
a decent compost on its own and add fertiliser later if the plants start
showing nutrient deficiency in one way or another.

--

Jeff

On 19/02/2020 11:28, john west wrote:
We want to put some bamboo plants and also some Conifers in large
buckets (holes drilled for drainage).

Would wood chip (or anything else) be useful to add to the bottom of the
buckets to provide future nutrition when it has rotted down?

That's a bad idea. Wood takes up nitrogen as it rots. A bit of slow
release fertiliser will do no harm though. You may lose bamboo in
containers in hard winters if the roots freeze or in summer become too
dry. Perlag to add bulk but less weight might not be a bad idea. Tall
things in pots tend to fall over a lot when it gets windy.

Mine in containers all expired one particularly cold -12C peak winter.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 19/02/2020 14:42, Martin Brown wrote:
On 19/02/2020 11:28, john west wrote:
We want to put some bamboo plants and also some Conifers in large
buckets (holes drilled for drainage).

Would wood chip (or anything else) be useful to add to the bottom of
the buckets to provide future nutrition when it has rotted down?

That's a bad idea. Wood takes up nitrogen as it rots. A bit of slow
release fertiliser will do no harm though. You may lose bamboo in
containers in hard winters if the roots freeze or in summer become too
dry. Perlag to add bulk but less weight might not be a bad idea. Tall
things in pots tend to fall over a lot when it gets windy.

Mine in containers all expired one particularly cold -12C peak winter.

If tall plants are going to blow over then you waant MORE not less
weight in the pot.
If you live where there are foxes then Hoof and horn or Blood fish and
bone are NOT a good idea as they atract foxes and they willdig looking
for food.
Using a good liquid feed every couple of weeks during the growing season
should work as you will be watering regularly.

Would adding a sprinkle of Growmore to the top of the soil in the pot be
an satisfactory alternative?

On 21/02/2020 09:07, john west wrote:

Would adding a sprinkle of Growmore to the top of the soil in the pot be
an satisfactory alternative?

You would be better with something like Vitax Q4

On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 11:28:59 +0000, john west wrote:

We want to put some bamboo plants and also some Conifers in large
buckets (holes drilled for drainage).

Would wood chip (or anything else) be useful to add to the bottom of the
buckets to provide future nutrition when it has rotted down?

I tend to mix some farmyard manure, Growmore, chicken manure in with the
potting compost for future feeding.
Alternatively a layer of this could be added to the bottom of the pot.
This is not particularly a recommendation because sometimes it works
better than others.
However it does provide some extra nutrients.

Careful with the holes in the bottom of the pot with bamboo.
Roots can get out through the holes and some bamboo are very invasive.

Cheers



DaveR



--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

growing trees in pots is in effect growing bonsai, and as such should be treated that way. They will eventually become pot bound so largish trees should be repotted periodically (during the winter months). l have a couple of 30 year old, 1 metre conifers in 2 gallon buckets, due to be repotted. l have anchored them to the greenhouse to stop the wind blowing them over. feeding? l give them some general fertiliser when l remember. Surprisingly enough they are rather attractive. Don't know anything about bamboo though.