Be Careful Watering Large Container Trees

[Millet]

I have a Fukushu kumquat growing in a 10 gallon air root pruning container.   I noticed a few small branches dying back.  I thought it was not getting enough water, so I increased the amount and frequency of irrigation.  The die back continued.  Therefore, I thought it probably needed re-potting.  When I pulled the tree from the container I quickly seen that the water was channeling through the medium.  A good part of the medium remained dry even though I applied a good quantity if water.  I removed a good portion (but not all) of he old medium and replaced  with a 5-1-1 medium (5 parts Repti-Bark, 1 pert peat and 1 part popcorn sized perlite and soaked the tree for 4 hours.  Be careful with large containers and watch for signs of trouble, and take action quickly when signs warrant it.

[containerman]

Thanks for the heads up as I have more than 70 trees in containers.

[Bomand]

Also: For containerized trees a great way to water is:
Have a vessel large enough to set the tree in, fill the vessel with water a d let it soak till no more air bubbles arise from the potting medium. I realize this will not work for a large number of container tree or trees in huge containers. The labor would be too intensive. It works for someone with just a few containers of average size. It is a great way to install a systemic such as Bayer.

[brian]

I have had the exact same problem that Millet describes, I had posted in another thread some time ago.  I am hoping that since I began switching to a half turface mixture it will help with this problem, as it seems related to the peat and decomposing mulch in the mixture forming spongy clumps

Heres the picture

[sunny]

I had the same issue. I just culled my dekopon in a 220 liter container..it got water every other day from my dripsystem plus we have rain every other day...under the rootball the soil was completely dry. I have a nice loamy soil.

Now i stick a long pin in the soil to create holes, i do this every few months...

My dekopon grew well though but the fruit wasn't nice enough....not sour but also not sweet and not much flavour.

[SeaWalnut]

In these type of pots i lost all my pecan collection.All died because of drought in the winter when i didnt watered them ( were kept outdoor).
Not only the water flushes out of the holes on the sides of these pots ,but they also dry faster.

[Millet]

Research has found that of all the water absorbed by the tree's root system, less than 5% remains in the tree for growth.  The rest is evaporated out into the atmosphere via the stomada in the leaves.

[Tom]

Do I remember correctly that pecan is one of the few things that do not do well in air pruning type containers ? Tom

[SeaWalnut]

Do I remember correctly that pecan is one of the few things that do not do well in air pruning type containers ? Tom

No,the pecan its the most growed tree in tall containers with air pruning but usually they are just bottomless pots without holes on the sides.
I think the tall pots without bottom were invented for pecans.
My catastrophic failure with pecans due to the use of such pots,was indeed catastrophic but pecan specialists are reccomending these pots.