Wicker baskets as poor man's grow boxes?

BunjinEnt

Also, how about Thomspn's water seal on the wicker?

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Mcspeed

Everyones got nurserys pots take em out and shoot em full of holes, if you don't want to piss off your neighbors, use a drill.


Big lot, Job lots, K Mart, East Coast Market Place etc. etc. have plastic cooking caulenders, pallets are usually free and I just bought shets of embroidery mesh for 49cents a piece they were like 18" x 12" nice screen size even if its for the bottom of pots.

BunjinEnt

LOL, McSpeed. Some of the rounds cost more than a new water basket...

I forgot about Big Lots, etc.

Thanks,

William

Graydon

Not durable. Cheap yes but durable no. At $3.00 a pop no big deal but I have had one breakdown in the Florida sun in less than 2 years. Basically cracked apart from lifting - side broke open and spilled soil and tree out as I was moving it around. I am not happy with the black color as it seems to absorb too much heat. I am also bummed that they "flex" when you pick them up corner to corner. Flat to flat is better. Why is this a big deal? If you flex it with plant and soil you are perhaps damaging the fine feeder roots thus slowing down the growing process. They do root prune by air very well.

The colanders I referred to (Idea I stole from the Stone Lantern Pine book) can be found here. I have attached a photo below. I get a set of 5 sizes for $14.00. Have been using these for 3 years and no flex, no breakdown and ever better - shorter in height so less soil needed and a better root structure for eventual bonsai pot. They root-prune just as well as the pond baskets. UGLY light green color - it's a shame it seems to glow but it is much cooler out in the baking Florida sun.

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JavaScottC

Graydon,
As for root pruning, on the sides, yes, but the bottom? Here's a pic of a scots pine from today. Roots are all happy in the shade underneath, as they sit on the nice 2x10.

Scott

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Great, just what we need....another blogger



http://scottsbonsai.blogspot.com

Graydon

Oh yeah - they just come out in that dark wet environment. If you want to stop that put the basket up on a couple of blocks of wood or 4 small pieces in the corners. They will come out a little bit but the air and lack of a real most area stops them like on the sides. I use broken pottery pieces on one side tipping it to get even more drainage.

Nice pine!

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JavaScottC

I use broken pottery pieces too, have lots of em. As for the wood pieces, well, call me lazy, but would you put wood pieces under each of these? Too much work.

(and thats just the pines, I have tridents in the baskets too)

Scott

Attached Images

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Great, just what we need....another blogger



http://scottsbonsai.blogspot.com

Graydon

No - I would just take a snap blade knife and cut the roots sticking out the bottom every few weeks.

I am building a table as an experiment for 8 of the larger baskets. It will have a marine plywood top with square holes evenly spaced in the top and a frame and legs around the perimeter. The concept is to drop in the baskets so the top lip is hanging on the plywood. Here in Florida the sun is way too much sometimes and about this time of year my pines start to slow way down. I think it may be the black basket absorbing the heat from the sun and making the root zone a little hot. If the basket is exposed to the air but out of direct sun - hopefully it will stay cooler and the air will root prune as it should on all 5 sides. Or not - time will tell.

Will post a photo when I am done - but it may be a few weeks and I am swamped at work.

Nice collection - gotta love pines.

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bumblebee

I've got pond baskets, but the dollar store has nice collenders the are sturdy for only a dollar each. They do use a lot less soil mix.


Libby