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Originally Posted by Graydon
would it be prudent to start pines in a peat based mix as kingkong has done and let them grow unchecked for a year
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I think so - or even up to three years. After that the peat will deteriorate. It's important to get a good root system working for you early on. For some reason seedlings do better in this humus-rich and acid environment. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that they're designed to germinate in leaf litter...
I favor those nursery pots that are shallower than normal flower pots. I think they use them for bulbs or chrysanthemums.
I like to get the nebari nice and wide first, wider than you would think, for this reason: Imagine a young trunk,half an inch thick, with nicely spaced nebari spreading out to a radius of two inches all round. Wide enough? Now think ahead ten years. The tree has been in the ground for four or five years, then in a large growing container. The trunk is now two inches thick, but the nebari is still only four inches across. An inch-wide nebari all round? Not enough by any means.
It took me twenty years to figure that out!
