rockm

"In the container it grows slower, but I can get the roots the way I like them from the get go. Those fibrous roots are much harder to get in ground and then you still have to pot them to work out that mess"

"I have found that trees (at least the ones I have worked with) tend to recover faster when potted. After you plant a tree into the ground in spring, it will probably not show much growth until the next season."

The first comment confuses what in ground growing is for. It is NOT for root refinement. It is for trunk development and other big jobs. Fiborous roots are sacrificed (generally speaking) in favor of gross development of the trunk. Fiborous roots close to the trunk are not enough to force big development in the trunk. A fibrous root system is a refinement, not part of the initial development of the tree. Root refinement is best done when the plant is containerized. That is part of the secondary development process.

The second comment is rather strange. Trees may seem to recover faster in containers because roots are warmer and there is alot less space for them to grow into. In the ground, root development may proceed well ahead of top development. Roots grow pretty fast and mostly unnoticed in the ground. This is a very important part of in ground planting and plant recovery. The plant may be pushing alot of roots and not a whole lot of top growth in the ground. Just because the tree isn't exploding with growth up top while in the ground, does NOT mean roots are sluggish...