With good watering practices, NO. Research with a number of species has not shown this to be a problem with good water management. However, if you over water continually and have water exiting drain holes after each irrigation, air-root-pruning would be reduced. However, once plants are removed from such a humid environment, any roots outside…
It is not necessary to ship the plants in the RootBuilder® container for the root ball to stay together because the roots are so fibrous. The technique that both customers and nurseries are pleased with is to lift the trees at the nursery, remove the RootBuilder® container and cover the root ball with black stretch…
If the plants are to be in the RootBuilder® container a matter of 2 or 4 months and are not particularly tall or have a large head, it may work best to use 6 mil poly. This stops all roots from leaving the confines of the container and all are air-root-pruned on the container sides.…
A current estimate is that 50% remove the Knit Fabric container and place the trees in above ground containers for finishing. The RootBuilder® container is working well in this capacity. The other 50% are harvesting trees, allowing 3 or 4 days to “cure”, then stretch wrapping the root ball and sending it to landscape jobs.…
At this point in time I know of no shrub, even shrubs that are often grown as small tree forms, that do not grow well in the 5-Gallon Grounder™. The only tree that I do not like in this container is Pecan and that is because the root tips are so large that they do…
Yes, Simply set the container on the surface of the soil and fill with a soilless mix. As roots grow out the holes in the ledges in the sides, they will be air-root-pruned. Yet the roots that grow through the holes in the bottom will extend into the soil below and both anchor the plant…
A good soilless mix works best. Because there is little contact between the soil outside and the mix inside, a mix should be used. This is a distinct contrast to the Knit Fabric container where there is a great deal of contact between inside and outside through the thousands of small openings. Remember that the…
I have studied this issue at length and with an assortment of species, but not with grapes. But, from my years of experience, which included studying and growing grapes in a variety ways, my thought is that grapes will behave like all the other species. My suggestion is to remove the plants from the containers…
Osmocote or similar coated slow release N,P,K fertilizers work best. For example, even though on the bag, Osmocote 18-6-12 says 8 to 9 month release, on or in the soil, this product will slowly release nutrients for two growing seasons. The reason is that Osmocote and most other coated slow release products release based on…
For propagation: Use a mix of about 50% perlite to 50% peat or aged pine bark, peat and perlite approximately 2:1:1 by volume. To this add 6 pounds of 18-6-12 Osmocote (NO substitutes), plus one pound of Micromax, plus a small amount of dolomite ONLY if you have very little calcium in your water supply…
