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So, as you can see, I have lots of plants in containers, and I’ve learned a lot growing plants in containers. And let me show you some of the things. For one, I use a lot of my clay, normal soil in my container mixes. It holds moisture, gives them more nutrients, and it doesn’t dry out as fast in the heat of the summer to the point where you’re stressing the plant or tree or whatever it is. Another thing I’ve learned is how important mulching is, especially on like these figs and other things where they really like that consistent moisture level. And if you’re wondering why we have this light colored pattern in these leaves, it’s not the fig mosaic virus. It’s actually because they were pale leaves when they first came out cuz I had them in storage in the basement, but they were already starting to leaf out. So, I brought them out here. And that’s what you’ll see. This plant was actually an air layering from one of my neighbors. And as you can see, it has little figs on it. And I think it’s a Celeste. You guys correct me if I’m wrong. Pretty much all of my potted plants are in a native soil mix with compost and top soil like sand material. They aren’t in potting soil per se, especially like ones that I plan on eventually putting in the ground. I don’t want them shocked by the sudden change in growing medium because we have heavy clay soil. But I want them getting used to it as well. Another very important thing when it comes to potted plants is giving them enough shade cuz if they are sunstressed, they’re going to be diseased and pestprone. Like as you can see right here, I have these avocado trees and starfruit trees and even this dragon fruit under the screen right here to give them a little bit more shade. And also these smaller plants because those are transitioning outside. Where I live, for example, it’s really beneficial to not have things like tomatoes or cucumbers in full sun. I had some right here where they’re getting like 9ish 10ish hours of sun a day and they were starting to die on me come Julyish and I ended up moving them into the shade underneath the tree and they lasted throughout the rest of the year pretty much. For example, right here, I have this planter box set up where it’s only getting brief morning light and brief sunset light. And I’m growing a lot of things that are not heat tolerant in here or things that will do better in this container because it’s so shallow and small throughout the heat of summer in a place that doesn’t get as much sun. So like this basil and these peas and this Swiss chard. The Swiss chard it probably would be okay in fuller sun, but I just was getting it all my greens and things that like this lettuce that won’t enjoy the heat in this area where you can be growing it where it’s not going to be as likely to bolt on you. Just think of planting out things into the shade more when it comes to those things that do like to bolt right away in the spring. Like with the case of these smaller potted plants like these citrus and stuff and even some of the larger pots when we were getting consistent temperatures in the ‘9s for a stretch during last year’s heat wave. I put all of these smaller plants in a tray of water so that they had constant water cuz you can’t rot out cutting or you can’t rot out plants when temperatures are that high. They will definitely appreciate it. Also, containers act as a dwarfing mechanism for larger trees and shrubs and things that would grow too big normally for containers. Eventually, they will outgrow them, but they’ll grow slower in general in containers like this peach tree. It’s not grafted. This is a seedling peach tree. And as you can see, it set little peaches this year. Again, last year I got some as well. And I moved it up to this massive container because I had it drying out on me cuz it got rootbound in the middle of the summer. But back to the point though, you will not see as much growth out of a container plant necessarily as a plant in ground. And so this is in a sense dwarfing and keeping this peach tree small in this container. Now, if I had the option to put a plant in ground instead of a container, I would always go for in ground. But like with the case of these mango trees, unless I have a greenhouse setup or some really good way of protecting them, I’m not going to put them in ground. And in the case of like this avocado right here, they actually sell air pruning pots. They’re a little bit pricey, but for things like avocados that don’t like the root disturb, the root mass disturbed, they are a gamecher because it will self-p prune those roots and not get a big mess of roots twirling around and choking the plant or tree out. It’s a huge, huge advantage to having them in a just a normal container like I do right here. It’s extra important to be able to read how your plants are doing in containers because they are completely dependent on you for taking care of themselves. If they were in the ground, they wouldn’t need constant watering, fertilization, so on and so forth. And also container plants take way more time and energy to maintain. But there’s definitely some advantages to growing plants in containers. Like for on these figs inside that are leafing out and growing figs on them already because we’re going to be getting a frost in the next few days. Whereas if they were in ground, you can’t do that. You just have to try to cover them. So, I hope you guys learned something new that you didn’t know about growing plants in containers. And thank you so much for watching to the end and have a great
1 Comment
Great information thank you!