My Experience with Pot Planting

[Sabal Steve]

I planted this Dypsis baronii in May of 2014, inside of a 5 gallon pot.  I slit the pot in spots to allow the roots to exit.  I can tell that some of the roots made it outside the pot, but the bulk had swirled within.  They were thick, almost a 1/4 in, with smaller branches extending off.  This plant has easily doubled in size since I planted it 19 months ago!  I cut as much of the pot away as seemed reasonable.  So, it seems that this is a bad idea.

Anyone have thoughts on speeding this guy up? 

I will destroy you...

 

[OverGrown]

Hey Steve,

Bill Dickinson (known for his lytocaryum weddelium x syagrus hybrids) is a neighbor of mine and in his yard he had pot planted several palms MANY years ago (10-15yrs plus), as that was the practice encouraged by some members of the palm society at the time, as explained to me.  All of those palms that were pot planted were noticeably stunted despite its age.   

it looks like your plant is still small enough to catch up on its own but if you want to ensure it makes up for loss time efficiently, my approach would be to dig it out, amend the hole well if it isn't already and spread the roots out by hand (or partially cut the root ball if necessary). The ultimate goal of which is to make sure those roots can spread out and grow unimpeded.  I am unfamiliar with baronii's root sensitivity but I would be attempting this the weeks coming out of winter and not going unless I had excellent drainage to prevent root rot/infection. 

 

[Phoenikakias]

Nothing to add except that my experience with pot planting is equally negative. I only ask myself just for the records who initiated this wrong practice...

[Sabal Steve]

Thanks guys.  I dug around the pot on Saturday, and cut as much away as I could with an exacto-knife.  Roots didn't get too beat up, but if it doesn't make it, I have a few liners as back-ups.

 

Steve

[Josh-O]

3 hours ago, Sabal Steve said:

Thanks guys.  I dug around the pot on Saturday, and cut as much away as I could with an exacto-knife.  Roots didn't get too beat up, but if it doesn't make it, I have a few liners as back-ups.

 

Steve

or you could buy a HUGE 5 gal I have for 45.00, just saying  

[Sabal Steve]

58 minutes ago, Josh-O said:

or you could buy a HUGE 5 gal I have for 45.00, just saying  

Live and learn my friend!

 

[edric]

I've got experience planting Pot! Ed

[sashaeffer]

On some palms since what I can grow here in the ground is very limited and where they had been growing in a pot I cut the bottom of the pot totally off and also slit the sides of the pot enough times so that the pot barely can stay together then plant the entire thing.  Has it been a benefit? hard to say but I can't help but think that the palm is happiest transitioning into the new and different soil now surrounding it.

[Matt in OC]

Here's my 5 gal. Dypsis decipiens I pot planted in April. It put out one stunted leaf and hasn't done squat. I'll probably rip it out, being the impatient sort.

[Pete in Paradise Hills]

other than supposed protection from gophers, what is the rationale for pot planting?

[OverGrown]

26 minutes ago, Pete in Paradise Hills said:

other than supposed protection from gophers, what is the rationale for pot planting?

Pot planting won't even help prevent gophers ( I repeat pot planting palms WILL NOT deter gophers), I lost four years of growth on two very nice looking bismarkia's to gophers and two years of growth on a livistona decipiens.   It was a theory/method implemented a few years ago which did not work out.  The only  advantage I can see to utilizing a pot's top ring portion is to direct water towards the roots of the palm if planted on a slope. 

The initial theory when pot planting was that the shear root volume would bust the slits (cut prior to planting) of the pot.   In practice, it just impeded the palm from establishing itself as a greater percentage of the roots would be contained in the pot.  If you think about it, palms roots are not considered invasive or destructive (as evidence from proximity to hardscape)  so the idea that they would bust open a pot, which while possible with time, is not considered good culture if you want to get a plant established well.   I did this with 7 planted bismarkia's....the ones that were not pot planted outpaced the ones that were by leaps and bounds and in the end, the gophers still ate the ones that were pot planted w/ plastic netting.     If someone wants to prevent gophers, I'd try something else like metal netting, caging..or just a proactive program to kill or deter them.

[Matt in OC]

Disturbing the roots as little as possible when planting.

[DoomsDave]

This is one of those subjects that has a few general rules that apply most of the time, with a few notable exceptions.

Pot planting, for most palms, in my experience, sucks. Unless they're really small, or really enormous.

BUT if you plant pot and all and slit the sides, some palms like Hyophorbe will root better, at least at first. Others, not so much.

Some small palms like Chamadorea stolonifera are better pot planted since they'll run everywhere like bamboo. Or other small palms can be pot planted in the summer, then pulled up and put in the greenhouse in the winter, like dwarf D. lutescens, Areca catechu, Chamadorea radicalis, metallica, Dypsis minuta, etc. etc.

On the other hand, enormous palms growing in pots set on the ground will turn into the usual monsters with that little ring-ding of a pot at the very base. Phoenix, Bizzies, Parajubes, Buteas, Syagrus, Sabal big Braheas, and other massive rooty palms will do that. The roots grow out the holes and they're so mucho massive they bust their way out.

Some, like Dictyocarym lamarckianum hate root disturbance so much you have to pot plant them. (Of course they hated my Death Camp even more and croaked post haste anyway.)

So, my general rule is don't pot plant in the Death Camp.