Potting the Tropicals

[Viking Guy]

Ok, I have ordered some fruit trees to grow near the front of my office in pots.

I'd like to know the most ideal way to set them up in potted scenarios since I'm accustomed to putting my plants in the ground.  I plan to keep them under 12'.

I have a Mango NDM, Avocado mex, indian almond, and a carambola k.

I would like to know the best size and type of pots, soil mixtures and fertilizers that should be used here.  As well as when ferts should be applied.

I need the pots to be lightweight as possible since these will get moved in and out of the office everyday.

The trees will be destined to stay in the pots permanently and I already grow the varieties in my orchard (except gor the indian almond--which ive never grown), so I'm not concerned with future in ground needs.  Just the perfect, ongoing potted arrangement.

Thanks!

[FruitFreak]

What size Potts are they currently in? Increase the pot sizes as they grow rather than sticking a small plant in a huge pot.  This will help ensure the roots are receiving the right amount of nutrients and water.  Work your way up to larger sizes until you are unwilling to go any larger due to environmental or special limitations.  In general the larger the pot the happier the tree.  Light well draining soils would be best and you could get by with sunniland citrus,tropical fert with the occasional nutritional spray.

[Viking Guy]

Not in pots   Just ordered them   Plastic wrapped root balls.

[Viking Guy]

My research on the soils for pots seems to point toward soiless mixes.  Advice?

For example:  Pine bark ground finely, peat, perlite, d-lime, micro powders and controlled release fertilizers.

If this is the norm, then "who, what, when, where?" applies here.

What brands of the above should I go with and what fertilizer ratios are best?  Should I do something else entirely, and will it vary per the species of plants I mentioned?

This is definitely a different world than planting in my orchard, lol.

[Viking Guy]

Anyone able to help on this topic?  I'm not accustomed to potting fruit trees in soiless media and want to do it right with the best possible arrangement. 

I had bought Pennington Potting Mix, Perlite, Peat, Worm Castings, SRF+Micro and Soil conditioner pine bark per a local nursery recommendation.  Although when I research, it seems there are things I may be missing.

If I can use what I bought somehow, then I will, but could use tips on mixing ratios.  Otherwise, if i should get something better, I want to know so I can go grab it today.

[KarenRei]

Potted mangoes prefer a "gritty mix" - normally part organic matter with part fine gravel. But in your case given your weight constraints I'd recommend using coarse perlite instead of gravel, to keep the weight down. It'll add cost, but the result should be if anything better than regular gravel.  If perlite is too expensive consider porous volcanic rock like pumice or scoria, it'll keep the weight down and keep the aeration up versus regular gravel.

As was mentioned, never "step up" in size too many steps at once. BUT, never decide "it's big enough" and stop potting them unless you physically can't move them or run out of space. The bigger the root ball they can develop, the more productive they'll be.

Unfortunately for me I've gotten pretty space constrained 

[Viking Guy]

Cost/expense is not a factor at all.  We want "the" best of the best possible for the office.  Pot size will be restricted to going in and out of 30" doorways.

Also, we installed ground and trunk locks so that the wind cannot knock them over and thieves cant steal them.  So, a lightweight pot will be OK.

[greenman62]

most of those trees get pretty large i believe
did you look into if they can be kept size restricted ?
Wont they have to be root-pruned at some point  to go through a 30 inch doorway ?

For the mix, i like coarse sand. it drains well, and helps anchor the roots
ive even used it at %50 for papaya and the roots loved it.
it is heavy though

[mangobaby]

Viking Guy - I have potted mangoes in tapla's gritty mix and also in pine bark mulch/perlite/peat moss mix. Both seem to be doing well. You will have to prune really hard to fit the pots thru 30" door. Pic below is of Maha Chanok in gritty mix

[Viking Guy]

Yeah, I'm prepared for the pruning.  If they ever become too large to manage, then they'll end up in the orchard and new trees will go in their place to repeat the cycle.

[Tropicaliste]

If I were you, regardless of the pot, I would coat the inside with microkote copper paint. I've pretty much coated the majority of my plant pots in this to root end prune and lead my plants to produce bushier root balls. The good thing about it compred to the air prune pots is that you can coat a fancy pot that will look nice in your office. I would go something lightweight, remember once you water it, it'll be even heavier. The more linear the sides, the better. Imagine trying to bend down with a friend to lift it up, your arms angled and trying to get your hand to lift the pot bottom while keeping your head above the rim. I like straight sides.

Please post pictures when it's potted up.

[Doglips]

If you go with a good soiless mix that does drain well, pot size don't matter.  The big issue with putting plants/trees in too large of a pot is the perched water table.  A small tree relative to the pot size won't uptake water fast enough and the roots will stand in water.
I cringe when people talk about using sand, if the particle size is in the 1/8" to 1/4" range then you are good to go.  Anything smaller I would avoid like the plague.
As an FYI, I recently repotted ( in the same pot) a mango that was trying to grow into the ground from a gritty mix pot.  I let the mix dry out a bit so it wouldn't be so sticky.  IT WAS A DREAM to repot.  I had a bare root tree in minutes and no damage to the roots.
And a warning, when first potting with gritty mix, you want dry ingredients, far easier to work with, but the ingredients are super super dry fresh out of the bag and they will fry tiny roots if you don't water them quickly, bare rooting is stressful enough, but add ultra dry ingredient to the equation and you get trouble.  Learn from my mistake.
I like the weight of gritty mix, not for the moving (heavy as hell) but for the reduced wind tippage, obviously indoors not an issue.

[bangkok]

 i mix compostsoil (just from a bag) with sand and whatever i like.

Under in my pots are stones, then a plastic mesh and then the soil. I make many holes in the bottom of the pot and in the sides at the bottom.

I can water as much as i like and the soil doesn't become soggy. Just repotted some today and was amazed the soil stayed dry. There's even claychunks in the compost.

[Doglips]

I had bought Pennington Potting Mix, Perlite, Peat, Worm Castings, SRF+Micro and Soil conditioner pine bark per a local nursery recommendation. 

Not familiar with the Pennington Potting mix.  As a rule I avoid anything called potting mix.  I don't know what the stuff is good for, but potted plants usually ain't one of them. 

[Viking Guy]

The Pennington ingredients are almost identical to the mix that Top Tropicals uses for their trees.  That was the reason I selected it over any other brand.  It is also sand free, which is a plus.

I am taking it and amending it.  I mixed the Pennington 60; 20 Pine bark soil conditioner, 10 perlite, 10 peat.  Also adding worm castings and epsom salt.

Close up of the soiless mix.


They are all in their growout pots now.

Carambola Kari - Dropping some leaves from shipment, but holding its flowers close.


NDM Mango, also with some fruit.  Seems unaffected by shipping.


Avocado Mex with fruit.  Looks stressed slightly.



Indian Almond dropped all but upper leaves.


Except for the mango, they were all in a mixture that appeared identical to what I created.

Question is, since the Mango came in a gritty mix, is it OK to plant it as is into the mix I made?  Or must I bare root it?

[Doglips]

bare root it!
You want consistent soil, whatever that is.

[Viking Guy]

bare root it!
You want consistent soil, whatever that is.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the effects (short/long term) if you don't?

I rarely, if ever, disturb the root ball when planting a potted plant into the ground and haven't really seen any Ill effects.  Does it work differently in a potted environment?

[Doglips]

Actually it depends on which gritty we are talking about.  Al's has two formulations, 5-1-1 and 1-1-1. The 5-1-1 is obviously more organic.  You will have to decide how close the mixes are, and whether the effort is needed.
Wet and dry spots, nutrient rich and nutrient poor, different pH levels.....
Makes it more difficult to give consistent care to the entire plant.

If it is in gritty, bare rooting is so easy to do with negligible harm to the plant (at least in 1-1-1, and probably in 5-1-1), and you could mix both mixes together for a homogenous mix, if desired, I probably wouldn't but your its your call.