AusBonsai

G'day,

I have ground planted quite a few plants over the last couple of months and am contemplating ground planting a few more.

Along the way I have been curious as to the benefit of such ground planting and its benefits over a grow pot if the amount of sunshine available on any given day is limited by the positioning?

I realise this question has so many variables that it may be difficult to answer, or perhaps ground planting does so much for root growth and subsequent tree growth that it is irrelevant if the amount of sunshine is around 4-6 hours per day give or take an hour or two?

If a grow pot were able to be positioned to receive 8-10 hours of sunshine per day would it be an advantage over that same plant ground planted with around 4- 6 hours of sunshine?

Looking forward to your responses.

Chris.

MacGuyver wrote:

If a grow pot were able to be positioned to receive 8-10 hours of sunshine per day would it be an advantage over that same plant ground planted with around 4- 6 hours of sunshine?

In short no. (if your aim is faster growth) If your aim is more compact growth then yes..

Ground planting is best for trunk development and main lowest branches - use or plant in a cheap salad strainer from $2 shop so as to maintain main root mass, digging back up then is easier and plant still gets finer roots out. I have has amazing results with many species. It also helps major cut wounds to heal quick. I chop mine heavy n hard before spring to create amazing taper using a new shoot as the new leader...
Training pots then when you have the trunk and first two branches where u want them to develop finer branches, leaf reduction and create better taper throughout. Hope this helps. [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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I think I agree with treeman. Growth in the ground will nearly always be more than in a pot. I don't think it is a factor of sunshine though. Conditions in ground are usually far more stable. In a pot there will be a daily fluctuation in water and temp and another longer fluctuation in nutrient availability. Roots in the ground don't have to cope with such cycles. There is also almost unlimited space for roots in the ground but not in a container. I'm sure it would be possible to design a system where conditions in a container would always be optimum but I doubt if any of us could do it so ground still wins on growth stakes

Good stuff!

I just moved into a house with nothing but empty garden beds.......

Cheers.