Citrus > Citrus General Discussion

Why are big pots not recommendable for small trees?

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adriano2:
Why is it not recommendable to grow young trees in big pots. I have made mistake with my trees, when couple of years ago i planted them in to oversized pots. Now the are losing leaves and not looking good. I thought trees would like to have more space to grow roots. Those, recently planted in smaller pots are doing great.

brian:
I've always heard the reason being that the relatively small plant isn't absorbing the majority of the moisture retained by the soil, so it stagnates.

laidbackdood:
Brian is right......its always better to pot up...one stage at a time....a pot 2 to 4 inches bigger around.......teh roots never get to drink the water around the outside of the pot.....so its stagnates and remains wet.....the roots suffocate.....leaf drop and twig die back ensue........I killed heaps of trees like that.

z_willus_d:
See Brian's post here below for some pics and description of something like this in action, although in my case the potting up was from 5G to ~20G (more like 15G).  In theory, that wasn't such a large jump (about 3-4" outward from the circumference), but I'm having the symptoms: leaf drop, twig die back, etc.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=28086.0

laidbackdood:
I think the ideal is to transplant when the pot is full of rootball.........I transplanted a papaya the other day....i just lifted it straight out the pot and it was one big rootball.......lightly roughed the outside inch and put in a pot 2 - 4 inch bigger all around...........You can tell when its rootbound because it wont stay wet for 2 minutes......next day.....its dry again......
If you have those brown mushy roots which are dead.....you have to prune them off.....put in fresh mix......give it a water(perhaps with hydrogen peroxide 3%).........this helps provide oxygen to the roots which they have been lacking......then put your tree in the shade to settle down and check every day with your meter.......let it dry out some....then you know you are getting new root growth........I never water two days in a row....If its really hot...I give trees a big soak early morning ready for the hot day.

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