The Tropical Fruit Forum

I live in MO...so take the following with a grain of salt

Dig hole exactly the size of the container.

It is hard to know what they mean by this.  It makes it sound as if none of the dirt dug for the hole will go back in the hole.  That is not the way we plant trees.  Generally we shoot for a hole as deep as the root ball is tall, but 3x wider.  It is now considered a mistake to dig deeper than that, at least with hardy trees.

...base of the trunk...above the ground...the tree will sink below the soil line if it is planted level with the ground.

I agree.  The same thing will happen if you dig a hole deeper than the root ball is tall.

Water every day for the first month.

That will kill a tree in my area where we have clay soil.  Probably works fine for tropicals.

The other thing we do is NEVER amend the hole with compost or anything besides the dirt dug from the hole in the first place.  No compost, sand, nothing.

I used to have the same thought about starting plants in the largest pot to avoid repotting, but have found that that is the easiest way for the plant to develop root rot.  When the soil to root ratio is high, the soil in container will stay wet for too long since there is not enough roots to use up the water.

Planting in the earth is different because the earth acts like a giant wick and draws the excess water elsewhere. 

So I would go with repotting.  It is sometimes even appropriate to repot a size down if root pruning is implemented.

-Herman

I think it is safe to say that the conventional wisdom is to go with gradual up-potting.

I agree with Herman but I would offer a different explanation.  He brings up the issue of what I know as the "perched water table" (PWT).  The PWT is the saturated growth medium that still holds water in the bottom of the pot after watering.  It is held there by the adhesive properties of the water.  The growing medium in this portion of the pot is anaerobic and the plants are vulnerable to root rot if this perched water table is too high. 

The height of the perched water table is dependent particle size of the growing medium.  Taller containers will have a smaller volume PWT as a percentage of their total volume.  But the actual height of the table is dependent on the growing media particle size.  Perlite/pine bark/Turface/coconut husk chips (CHC)/turkey grit have large particle size and minimal PWT.  Compost has small particle size and as many of you know, after a time gives you that stinky anaerobic sludge you sometimes see in the bottom of a container.

The particle size in most growing medium tends to break down over time.  Peat, and pine bark, common elements in mixes, will break down fairly quickly and the particle size will be reduced.  (Slower to break down would be perlite and CHC, and Turface and grit may not not break down much at all.)   Smaller particles wash to the bottom, and over time the PWT in a particular pot increases because of these smaller particles.

Herman's results, in my opinion, may have to do with the fact that by potting to the largest pot, you keep that plant in a given potter longer, giving those particles a longer opportunity to break down, and raising the PWT of the pot.  By potting up, you keep consistently larger particle size in the bottom of the pot and thereby a lower PWT.

I will also offer one other observation of the benefit of gradual up-potting.  I think that the root density with up-potting is increased and more even throughout the container.  It is my own observation that when placed into a too-large container, roots will sometimes crowd the perimeter, leaving a loose, crumbly portion in the center.  It is hard to root prune these plants because if you remove the outer 1-2" of root ball you have removed 90% of the roots!

robert- if your flora exoctica jab has fruited, why did you write that your purchase was a mistake.

Nothing to do with the jab, it was the other 5 things I ordered that were problematic.

LL, you are doing great!

I have one lychee getting ready to bloom and another that is refusing to do so this year.
Mango 'Cogshall' has a great bloom but no fruit set.  What is your secret?

My jabs.  This one from Flora Exotica (what a mistake):


This one from PR:

This is awesome...I have two in pots, grown from PR seeds, each about 20" now.

The only thing left is for someone to finally confirm that you can fruit R. deliciosa in a pot and I'll be all set.   

I came back from Puerto Rico with a grafted tree with the label 'Nipser Mexicano 7.'  Can anyone ID that variety for me?
Seems to be a slow grower but I have nothing else to compare it to and it could very easily just be a typical Missouri sapodilla growth pattern.
 

I never joined the yahoo group, so I don't know about that, but...
...GW technology is ancient.  The advantages of this forum format include:

• simple image upload
• text formatting that doesn't require knowledge of html
• emoticons   
• the ability to edit a post
• search functionality

Also, this is a place we can call our own.

This is what Gerry is talking about.  Sorry, they aren't the best pics.

Younger tree fruits like this:



Then after a couple of years, mine has started doing this:

This is great news!  I have a Dwarf Orinoco in a pot, maybe 15-20 gallon.  I had given up on getting any fruit, I just kept it around for putting out by the back porch in the summer.  In fact, a couple of time I cut back the main pseudostem!  Stupid!  Now we'll have to find a bigger container and try to get some fruit!

Quote from: stressbaby on January 19, 2012, 10:46:21 PM

Hello from Robert, aka Stressbaby.
I feel like the last person at the party!  Nice to see my GW/PR friends here and look forward to a tropical fruit forum with a modern format.  Very nice. 

You were one of the first I emailed last week. Did you get it?

Yep but I've been out of town the last two weeks, just getting caught up!

I've had my 2 year old TR Hovey on a plain seed germination-type heat mat through the winter here in MO in a GH kept at 55F with no troubles.