tree in pot in ground

September 1, 2008 5:42 PM

My crazy gardener advised me to cut the bottom off of my avocado tree's pot and put the whole shebang in the ground instead of removing it from the pot. Is he crazy?

He usually know what he is talking about, but that seems a little odd to me. He claims it will force the roots down and this will be beneficial for its growth in the long run. Has anyone done something similar when planting a fruit tree?

The pot is pretty big - I moved it from a smaller pot into a ten gallon onee when I bought it because I knew I would not have an opportunity to put in the ground for a while.

posted by mzurer to home & garden (4 comments total)

He's not totally crazy, but you'll want to make sure after a year or 2 that you go back and remove the rest of the pot so the tree doesn't get choked as it outgrows the now in-ground pot. it might be easier to just remove the pot completely while initially planting.

But you still want deep roots, so how do you do that?

When planting, dig the hole wider and deeper than you'd really think necessary. After the plant is established with normal waterings.. water the plant deeply (set a hose on it for a 30 mins to an hour, possibly longer every 2-3 weeks. This gives the ground a good soaking, that goes very deep. The 2-3 weeks of no water causes the plant to have to sink roots to the deep soil where the water went.

This is how we do it in the Northeast US. Depending on your location (climate and soil types) you may have to adjust this.

I have never planted an Avocado tree, but from sprouting the seeds, I seem to remember they have a pretty powerful tap root that should find it's way down without a pot's guidance
posted by jrishel at 6:18 PM on September 1, 2008

Yup, sounds about right. Avocado roots go deep. Real deep. The best thing would to either take the pot off the tree after some time. You can use some sort of biodegradable pot (but wouldn't that just be counter intuitive?? Or you can just use a very very thin/weak pot so that the roots will break it over time.
posted by saxamo at 6:34 PM on September 1, 2008

The crucial point here is this: is he suggesting you bury the pot in the ground, such that the soil level in the pot is even with the ground? Or is he saying, put the pot on the surface of the soil or slightly buried, such that the majority of the pot is above ground?

If it is the former, that's the first time I've heard of that advice. He thinks it will be beneficial in the long run how exactly? He ought to be able to explain to you what he thinks his technique is accomplishing. In my experience it is not something routinely done with other fruit trees anywhere I've worked (zone 4 and zone 10). Generally your tap roots are going to go straight down regardless, and your feeder roots are going to be in the top 2-3 feet of soil regardless. I'm not sure what's to be gained by forcing the lateral roots to emerge from under your pot. They will just trend upwards again after that to their preferred level.

If it is the latter though, that is a common technique here in my humid-tropical location to prevent against waterlogging. The ball of soil in the pot above ground will remain dry and aerated even when the soil is flooded. Since Avocados are susceptible to root rot, this makes good sense. Lots of tropical fruit trees are planted this way in my area for this reason. Note that it doesn't have to be in the pot - you could remove it from the pot but just lay the root ball on the soil surface and mound soil around it, giving it a nice little hill.

Note that I haven't worked with avocado at all and it isn't grown in my area (Borneo).
posted by BinGregory at 6:36 PM on September 1, 2008 [1 favorite]

These folks agree with me:

...root rot is a major cause of avocado death in California. The condition develops with the combination of cool winter temperatures and the corresponding rainy season. Because of this many orchards and home owners plant their avocados on raised mounds. If you have very poor draining soil this may also be an option for you as well. To accomplish this only dig a hole about 1/4 - 1/2 as deep as the pot and then build soil up around the root ball. The end result would be small pitchers mound. This method of planting has proved very successful in controlling root rot in avocado production.

cite
posted by BinGregory at 6:47 PM on September 1, 2008