Fabric Pot Surprise

[PoorSand]

I plan to containerize young apple trees this spring and plant them this fall after they have developed more root mass. I'm not sure the fabric pots I've received are big enough.

I ordered a particular fabric pot size relying on the size dimension specifications provided on the U.S. company’s website, so I wouldn’t be taking a chance by ordering based just on some sales site’s usage of “trade gallons”.

The fabric pots have now arrived. The labeling matches what I ordered, saying "3 gallon", but they are shorter and narrower than the dimensions specified on the company's website. The ten I randomly sampled from the shipment average 2.3 gallons. Do I need bigger containers for some of the plants I have coming?
- B118 rootstock, ¼”, for whip and tongue grafting
- M111 rootstock, ¼”, for whip and tongue graft grafting
- Whips on M111, 30” – 36”, grafted last year
- Whips on M111, 3’ – 4’, grafted last year
- Whips on seedling, 30” - 36”, grafted last year
- Whips on seedling, 3’ – 4’, grafted last year
- Dolgo seedlings, 2 year old

 

[chickenlittle]

The few I've got in pots are on dwarf stock and in 5 gal pots. That seems like a good size to me although I'd think trees you are grafting now could go into smaller pots. I'd definitely want closer to a 5 gal pot for your older trees. I know some like to keep trees in their nursery for another year or two to get them bigger but my preference has been to get the trees into their final location and let them grow their roots where they won't get disturbed again. I figure they'll be better off in the long run vs the effort of babying them longer in the nursery.

 

[yoderjac]

I plan to containerize young apple trees this spring and plant them this fall after they have developed more root mass. I'm not sure the fabric pots I've received are big enough.

I ordered a particular fabric pot size relying on the size dimension specifications provided on the U.S. company’s website, so I wouldn’t be taking a chance by ordering based just on some sales site’s usage of “trade gallons”.

The fabric pots have now arrived. The labeling matches what I ordered, saying "3 gallon", but they are shorter and narrower than the dimensions specified on the company's website. The ten I randomly sampled from the shipment average 2.3 gallons. Do I need bigger containers for some of the plants I have coming?
- B118 rootstock, ¼”, for whip and tongue grafting
- M111 rootstock, ¼”, for whip and tongue graft grafting
- Whips on M111, 30” – 36”, grafted last year
- Whips on M111, 3’ – 4’, grafted last year
- Whips on seedling, 30” - 36”, grafted last year
- Whips on seedling, 3’ – 4’, grafted last year
- Dolgo seedlings, 2 year old

First, I learned early that the "gallon" spec in the industry is nominal. A 3 gal container does not actually hold 3 gal of material. Last year, I bought M111 clonal rootstock from the local nursery. It was quite a bit larger in diameter and was not pruned much at the top. This year I bought 50 1/4" m111 wholesale from a distributor located in the pacific North west. If the "gallon" doesn't hold a gallon, that is normal. If the company specifies dimensions and they are not that size, I'd call them to see if they sent the wrong size.

I use Rootmaker's Rootbuilder II containers because they are reusable for many years and unwrap for very easy extraction when planting. You did not mention if your fabric pots were a root pruning fabric or not but I'm presuming they are. You can check the Rootmaker site for the specific dimensions of these containers. Last year with the larger rootstock, I had hoped to use 1 gal containers but they were not large enough to allow the existing roots on the rootstock to spread out. I ended up using 3 gal RB2s. This year with the smaller rootstock, 1 gal containers were plenty large enough to accommodate the much smaller root balls on the root stock.

Keep in mind that with root pruning containers, you can have much larger trees than you think. For example, I've grown chestnuts from nuts. This thread shows the height and caliper of a chestnut after one growing season: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...h-rootmakers-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5556/ It was started indoors in an RM 18 cell, transplanted to a 1 gal RB2 and then a 3 gal RB2 in one season. When I planted it in the field, it had a great root ball but it probably had room in the container for 2 or 3 months of additional growth.

Thanks,

jack

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I plan to containerize young apple trees this spring and plant them this fall after they have developed more root mass. I'm not sure the fabric pots I've received are big enough.

I ordered a particular fabric pot size relying on the size dimension specifications provided on the U.S. company’s website, so I wouldn’t be taking a chance by ordering based just on some sales site’s usage of “trade gallons”.

The fabric pots have now arrived. The labeling matches what I ordered, saying "3 gallon", but they are shorter and narrower than the dimensions specified on the company's website. The ten I randomly sampled from the shipment average 2.3 gallons. Do I need bigger containers for some of the plants I have coming?
- B118 rootstock, ¼”, for whip and tongue grafting
- M111 rootstock, ¼”, for whip and tongue graft grafting
- Whips on M111, 30” – 36”, grafted last year
- Whips on M111, 3’ – 4’, grafted last year
- Whips on seedling, 30” - 36”, grafted last year
- Whips on seedling, 3’ – 4’, grafted last year
- Dolgo seedlings, 2 year old

You will not outgrow one of those fabric pots in that timeframe and if they grow like super tree the fabric will prune the root and grow more roots so I wouldn’t worry about any of the rootstock or whip trees grafted last year.

 

[PoorSand]

Thanks guys for your earlier comments. I got all the standards containerized this week. The three gallon size was okay for about two-thirds of them. I stepped up to five, seven, or ten for the others.

The whips on M111 are next.