Author Topic: Up Potting  (Read 3067 times)

JeffDM

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Up Potting
« on: June 08, 2016, 05:27:34 PM »
I just ordered a Glenn Mango from "Fast Growing Trees" and their information brochure recommends quite a bit of gradual up potting every two or three years.  They recommend going from 3 gal. to 7 gal. to 15 gal. to 20 gal. containers.
I was simply planning to put the 3 gal. plant into a half whiskey barrel container with good drainage when it arrives and forego all the transplanting.
Does it really help that much to disturb the plant every couple of years with a re-potting?

nullzero

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2016, 06:05:42 PM »
I think it has more to do with moisture control. Its easier to overwater a small plant in a large container, then to overwater a large plant in a smaller container. As long as the soil mix is well draining and your not over doing the watering it should be ok.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

skhan

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2016, 07:22:03 PM »
As long as it has good enough drainage you should be fine.
Just as nullzero said over watering plants small plants in big pots is pretty easy.
I guess a type of cactus mix would be good.
Check out gritty mix, the stated reason to use it was for this exact reason

JeffDM

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2016, 07:56:52 PM »
As much as "gritty mix" is promoted as a good type of potting soil, I'm amazed that it is not easily available as a packaged product.

simon_grow

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2016, 08:13:25 PM »
I've performed several experiments with plants that were either gradually stepped up vs plants that were up potted into much larger pots. The plants that were gradually stepped up grew approximately twice as fast. Try it yourself, I wish I still had the pictures.

Simon

gnappi

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2016, 08:58:57 PM »
I've performed several experiments with plants that were either gradually stepped up vs plants that were up potted into much larger pots. The plants that were gradually stepped up grew approximately twice as fast. Try it yourself, I wish I still had the pictures.

Simon



Actually I did the reverse...

I put 5 identical longan seedlings from the same crop and tree in neatly identical large pots with identical soil. They all started out last spring as 6" seedlings and two grew twice as fast and large as three others that are half the size.


While I think the gradual up potting regimen is sound, I also think that maybe some seeds are just naturally more robust.
Regards,

   Gary

skhan

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2016, 09:13:26 PM »
Here a link to the gritty mix.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2842847/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xxii

I'm in no way a proponent of this mix and have not used it myself but it does appear to have its uses.

skhan

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2016, 09:17:14 PM »
I've performed several experiments with plants that were either gradually stepped up vs plants that were up potted into much larger pots. The plants that were gradually stepped up grew approximately twice as fast. Try it yourself, I wish I still had the pictures.

Simon

Thanks for the insight.
Did you use the same mix for all?
I know the biggest problem with little plant in big pot, is water retention and that can lead to root rot.
Did you notice this in any of the big pot specimens?

shinzo

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2016, 03:51:23 AM »
Interesting topic. I was wondering the same question, my un educated guess was that gradual up potting allows each time the roots to be concentrated in a specific area before letting them explore an additional surface when up potting, which will lead in final to a big pot with a maximum volume of roots in all the area, while if we pot a plant directly in a large pot, the roots will spread loosely before hitting the big pot walls (i don't know after that if the center of the pot get re occupied with the roots or they remain growing in the edges of the pot leaving the center poorly rooted.
This is a general wondering of mine, i have no scientific expertise or anything like that, so i may be totally wrong.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2016, 09:14:31 AM by shinzo »

Mark in Texas

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2016, 08:05:04 AM »
Check out this active thread on the subject.  One member is growing Glenn in a pot and doing extremely well.   http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=20305.0

Guanabanus

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2016, 10:46:01 AM »
In large-scale nurseries, some 3-quart grafted mangos go into 3-gallon pots, and others go into 7-gallon pots.

Later some 3-gallon mangos go into 15-gallon pots, and some 7-gallon mangos go into 25-gallon pots.
Har

simon_grow

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2016, 11:40:11 AM »
I used the same potting mix in all the experiments and the experiments were done with bell peppers and Angelica Keiske. The plants in the smaller containers were much easier to water. I felt that I had to waste a lot of water to thoroughly saturate the soil in the large containers and by the time it was ready to water the plants in the smaller containers, I wasn't sure where the water level was for the plants in the larger container. The growth difference was drastic.

Simon

Cookie Monster

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2016, 11:48:58 AM »
If a tree is up potted into a large pot, it's easy to over water it, which encourages fungus development and slows down tree growth.

If the aim is to grow a tree as quickly as possible, moving directly to the the largest size pot should produce the larger tree (if the soil is maintained at a favorable dampness).

However, for permanent pot culture, I would recommend gradual up potting. The key with potted culture is to keep the growth velocity as low as possible without stalling. A tree thrown directly into a large pot is going to establish a very fast growth velocity, as it has no real resistance against growth. Then, once the tree has filled out the pot, it will stall out and your only option to encourage growth is to prune both foliage and roots. And, while the tree was busy growing you didn't get the fruit production that you wanted.

So, your goal is to establish some resistance against growth but without getting to the point of completely stalling the tree's growth, which would cause it to go into decline. I suppose one way to think about it is to consider the analogy of being in a desert where you have 2 options: small 4 ounce containers of water every couple of hours or one 2 gallon jug at once.
Jeff  :-)

Guanabanus

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2016, 12:26:29 PM »
Most of the trunk fungus problems that I have seen in nurseries are from burying the root crown.
Har

Mark in Texas

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Re: Up Potting
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2016, 03:13:32 PM »
Overwatering is not the issue.  Exclusion of air is, witness DWC and aeroponic culture.