Pots For Growing Bonsai
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When it comes to bonsai we all know about the ceramic bonsai pots and the important role it plays in not only the fine balance of working with the tree aesthetically but also restricting root growth to maintain the small stature of the tree. But what about the growing container? Why don’t we pay as much attention the them? They happen to play just as important a role as the bonsai pots do so lets take a look at them.
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Nursery Pot Size
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Remember above in the intro when I mention the bonsai pot restricts roots to maintain the small stature of the tree? Well this is where the growing container is the opposite. When we are in development with out bonsai we are concentrating on growing a thicker trunk and building out the structure of the tree. To do this we need un restricted growth of the roots and we also need and environment where the roots can thrive and grow fast, after all the more the root system is thriving the quicker your tree is growing. So how does the size help with this? Its mainly how tall the pots are, you see the taller the pot the more gravity it has pushing down through the soil, this gravity helps push the water through the pot and out the drainage holes. This is important because in development we are using dense organic soil which isn’t the best at draining, we do add other components to the mix to help with that but it still needs that gravity. The more shallow a pot becomes the less gravity column it has there for it drains slower opening you up to the risk of root rot. So as you can see having a nice tall pot to allow that nice dense organic soil is a must for trees in development.
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Side Note : We use organic soils in development as they are dense which helps retain heat and grows thicker roots, it also holds a lot of nutrients and holds plenty of moisture.
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Nursery Pot Colour
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Here is another often overlooked feature of the nursery growing container, the colour!
Now you might see some places selling plastic plant pots that are bright pink, red, blue or some other funky colour but you will want to steer clear of these if you want the best results. Black is the only colour ( or shade if we are getting technical ) that should be important. You see in development we want lots of root growth and roots mainly grow at night time once the sun goes down, but to grow they require a certain amount of warmth in the soil. So how do we get this warmth? You guessed it a black pot that captures heat from the sun and transfers it into the soil which then stores it for the night time root growth extravaganza. Other coloured pots will get some heat transfer but not as efficiently as the black pots will.
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Nursery Pot Durability And Re Usability
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When your growing a bulk amount of plants you will want pots that are cost effective but also you will want pots that can be re used over and over again. Nursery pots are not only cheap but they are generally made from a plastic that is durable such as polypropylene which also has a UV Stabiliser added to it which will stop the plastic from breaking down in the sunlight. This will allow you to use 1 pot over and over again which means you will certainly get your moneys worth out of that pot over a few years.
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Conclusion
So as you can see the plastic nursery pot plays a vital role in the propagation and cultivation of bonsai stock, they play just as big of a role that the ceramic pots do in my opinion. So next time you are wanting to get some thickness or development out of your bonsai stock you should now know the features to look for in a growing container and why they are important.
