Baby silver birch - 40 or 300 lt pot? Help!

Last post 11-07-2012 8:31 AM by sue1002. 3 replies.

• 10/07/2012 09:25 PM

  Anna Location: Joined on: 06 Mar 2012 Posts: 49

  Reply | Contact I just impulse-bought a small silver birch (about 2 feet tall) that I intend to put in a pot. I currently have the choice of a 40-ish litre pot or a really big one (actually a compost bin turned upside down so it's like a tapering flower pot), about 300 litres. I've never tried growing trees and am not sure which size to choose - or even whether it would be smarter to put it in the ground. If I plant it out, how big do the roots get? because I'll have to dig a major hole for it, into absolutely pure clay... Also, if I put it in a pot, what age should it be before I use John Innes no 3 compost; it's supposed to be for 'mature' plants - but I don't know what 'mature' means! Any ideas welcome!

• 10/07/2012 10:00 PM

  In reply to

  courierdude Location: cambs/suffolk border Joined on: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 216

  Reply | Contact i would say 300 litres is a little overkill for a 2ft plant. the biomass below ground will be pretty much the same as that growing above ground. if youre looking to keep the birch in a pit and have it grow in reasonable comfort-i would start with a much smaller pot and increase the pot size as the tree outgrows them. of course the root will stretch further if it were planted in the ground, if you have a 2 metre branch stretching out then you have a 2 metre root doing the same. although the pot cant allow this kind of root growth it shouldnt hinder the tree while it is young and wouldnt really need to stretch out for water as it would be taken care of by yourself and not left to rain. heres a link>>http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=274 and here is another interesting forum discussion on the subject of container grown birches http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/united-kingdom/51548-silver-birch-pot-pot.html energy follows thought

• 10/07/2012 10:48 PM

  In reply to

  Anna Location: Joined on: 06 Mar 2012 Posts: 49

  Reply | Contact Yes, I thought the big pot might be a bit much. but I thought that then I can just leave it to grow freely. Also, I found a photo online of one that had blown over and it looked like it had shallow roots that like to go laterally... Do ALL pot plants like getting to the potbound stage? I've been googling the perennial vexing pot size topic and I see that some nurseries offer quite big birches in very small pots, so I think I'll go for the 40 lt pot on the basis that it won't blow over. However, I fear I've bitten off something bigger than I can chew here! Silver birches grow taller than I thought, but I suppose I can always plant it in the ground at some point. Must not impulse buy plants!

• 11/07/2012 08:31 AM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,475	Reply | Contact  I think the 40 litre pot should be ok provided the sides on it are straight and not tapered as I've found that tapered pots (no matter what the size) will get blown over once plants inside reach over about 4 foot high. sue1002