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Planter size for Rhus Typhina

trebor666trebor666 Posts: 12
in Plants
Hi, I have a Rhus Typhina grown from a sucker of a nearby tree. I'm hoping/planning to grow it on as a bush in a planter at the front of the house (to prevent it sending out suckers).

It is about a year old now, growing well, and looking very attractive in a small tub.

Firstly, will this work ?  and secondly, how big does the planter need to be ?

Thanks for any ideas

trebor




Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    It is best to pot things on into slightly bigger pots than to let them loose in a big one all at once.  When it gets to the biggest size you can accommodate, leave it there but make sure you've used best John Innes no 3 compost with maybe up to 20% multi-purpose as they like well drained soil.   Keep it fed and top dressed every year once it gets to the maximum size.  Water regularly - daily in summer.

    Alys Fowler reckons they can be contained in a pot with its bottom removed and buried in teh soil so maybe one of those big plastic buckets builders use for mixing plaster and so on would answer and you could disguise the edges with decorative stones or creeping plants like campanula carpatica.

    AF in the Guardian - "it is possible to grow this tree in a very large pot, submerged in the soil with its bottom removed so that the pot acts as a barrier, but the tree can still access nutrients in the soil."
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • trebor666trebor666 Posts: 12
    Would the suckers not escape ?????
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    I'm not convinced with what Alys Fowler suggests. The suckers will probably escape. Keep them in a container. I think for a two year old tree, 75cm x 100cm to start off with. 
  • iharknessiharkness Posts: 1
    I grew this attractive tree and then some suckers from it.  I was the sucker!  After about 10 years there were suckers right throughout my adjacent lawns.  They were difficult to remove even though just below the surface and I found the best way was to locate a shoot and then cut down with a strong knife and pull the root out for as long as I could locate it - and then keep going. After much work, I think that I have removed all the active roots.  There are still some remaining roots which can be felt in the grass underfoot but they so not appear to be active.
    It sheds its leaves in autumn but with the stalks which are awkward to sweep up.
    Hope this helps.
    Senkra
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I think Alys advises leaving the rim of the pot above ground so hard to escape from there before they're spotted making a bid fro freedom.   Would suckers come from roots 40 to 60cm below ground?
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • trebor666trebor666 Posts: 12
    Thanks for all your ideas. I'm now thinking of a large tub with drain holes. gravel in the bottom, but perched on a stand of some sort, perhaps over a saucer. In this way any suckers that get out through the drain holes could be dealt with.

    Or a saucer, full of gravel with the tub on it ?

    Might work.

    Thanks again.  Trebor
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