Making bonsai training pots out of timber

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by tarzan, Aug 19, 2007.

  1. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    Hi Everyone,

    I am thinking about making some timber/plywood training pots for bonsai trees as a way of saving money, and I have been told not to use treated timber as the chemicals in the timber can leach into the soil and poison the plant. What are your thoughts on this? Is there a sealer that I could use to seal the inside of the timber (or plywood) to prevent this?

    Many thanks in advance
     
  2. edleigh7

    edleigh7 Well-Known Member

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    G'day tarzan....hows NI going...windy, lol. I haven't been over there for 2 years and thoroughly enjoyed myself, loved the endemic plants to that island and went on a tour with a knowledgeable lady, to the National park (I think ) on the top of the hill, it was great stuff. Now back to your question...I personally wouldn't use treated pine or similar for the reason you mentioned. In regards to sealing the timber, there is probably a commercial sealant you could use, but it would probably be more expensive than your price for fresh milk!! Surely there is someone on the island who has some old pots and just cut them down to your required size. Hope I helped

    Ed
     
  3. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    Thanks Ed,

    you are right about the milk, it's even worse now the government in their wisdom (if you can use the words government and wisdom in the same sentence) have introduced a GST! Still, the price we pay for living in paradise...
    I have some trees currently planted in size 12 plastic bags and would like to transplant them so the roots grow horizontally and in a more shallow container than a deep bag. I have even thought using plastic kitty litter trays! I also have some trees growing in the ground and intend to pull them out in a few weeks to trim the roots, but don't want to have to trim them too much to fit into a pot - I would rather trim them a little bit and then make the pot to suit, then next year trim the roots a bit more and continue to do this until the rootball is at the desired size. Hence my idea of making a training pot to suit. I have considered using bondcrete to seal the inside of the wooden pot. Have you ever heard of anybody doing this?

    thanks again
     
  4. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    The bondcrete mix would be 1 part bondcrete and 5 parts water
     
  5. M. D. Vaden

    M. D. Vaden Active Member 10 Years

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    My first thought would be to try cedar fence boards.

    New, there are as inexpensive as $2 to $3 per board at the low end.

    You could get faded or greyed ones free is you know where an old fence is being replaced.
     
  6. edleigh7

    edleigh7 Well-Known Member

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    Good idea about the cedar fence boards except that tarzan lives on a small island about 3 hours flight from the mainland of Australia, it is very expensive to transport items to this island.

    Couldn't you put a notice up at the hardware store or at the mall over there for unwanted items that could be used for your pots???
    Your on the right track with the roots too. Do you know what the story is with sending plants from NI to here (like your native pepperomi) or is it just not allowed?

    Ed
     
  7. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    Thanks all,

    I can put a notice up no problems, that's a good idea. I am assuming all these boards will be untreated? As to your question Ed, I have just phoned the quarantine service here and they have said that NI would be considered an international import in australia so you would have to go through all the normal quarantine channels. Your best bet at this end would be to phone one of the nurseries and see if they have what you want then start the paperwork.

    thanks again
     
  8. edleigh7

    edleigh7 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the tip tarzan

    Ed
     
  9. globalist1789

    globalist1789 Active Member

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    How long are you planning to keep the tree in the pot? It would take a number of years for a 1/2 board to rot through. Use nails that won't rust and you might consider using a wire mesh for the bottom rather than wood.

    I wouldn't use pressure treated lumber because of cost, I don't worry about poisoning the tree at all. Regular watering will stop anything from building up in soil and I've never heard of problems with PT wood poisoning other plants. They do make landscaping ties out of it.

    Michael
     
  10. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    Thanks globalist1789,

    I was planning on keeping the plants in the pots for a year at a time, repotting every 12 months and putting into a smaller wooden pot each time if needed, until the rootball is the size I want. I just don't want to chop too much off the rootball at once and then lose the tree! Once the tree is in a wooden pot the right size then I would begin finding a permanent pot for it. I'm guessing here but maybe up to about 3-4 years total in wooden pots with repotting and some fresh soil every 12 months.
    I was going to use decking timber on some of them as I have plenty of offcuts around that are too small for much else, with plywood for the bases. This depends of course on the style of the tree, cascade style trees would have to be made straight out of plywood (I'm not a builder type, trust me!!) Another idea I had is to make the pots and line them with a garbage bag glued to the inside, with drainage holes all the way through.

    cheers
     
  11. bioramani

    bioramani Member

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    In India we get wood treated with arsenic and copper. They are used routinely in wooden cooling towers for air conditioning and process water cooling. The process involves leaching out of leachable chemicals. The treatment is for preventing insect attack. I have seen ficus religiosa growing on these germinating from bird droppings. The treatment does not seem to bother the plant.

    A simple way to isolate the tree from the wood (this is getting a bit complicated) is to use a black 200 or 250 micron thick polyethylene liner perforated for drainage.
     
  12. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    Thanks bioramani,

    Interesting about the ficus living on the treated timber. How big do they get?

    Thanks also for the tip of the liner. Sort of where I was heading with my last post with the garbage bags but I guess a liner would be a better choice.

    Thanks again
     
  13. bioramani

    bioramani Member

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    They are unwanted in that location and removed during routine maintenance. This may happen once a year. Of course, the continuous wetness may minimize the level of chemical contact

    bioramani
     
  14. globalist1789

    globalist1789 Active Member

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    I don't understand... unless you are digging the tree out of the ground and have nowhere to put it, you can use cheap regular pots that will cost you less then the nails to make pots. The traditional "grow boxes" (which you might have seen) are used to let the tree get BIGGER, not to help reduce the root mass.

    I normaly use the pot the tree came in. Each step I use in the root reduction I just saw roots off the bottom, fill the bottom of the pot up with gravel or rocks or big bark chunks and plop the tree back in. I've also just taken the tree out and cut the pot now and replanted in that.

    It is also the standard practice to train the tree in a large pot then reduce the pot size. Annual repots and training at the same time will slow the trees growth and training a lot... as in it will take years longer to train the tree. The bonsai pot is more of a finishing touch then the normal growing place for a bonsai in training.
     
  15. tarzan

    tarzan Member

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    Hi again,

    thanks globalist, these are trees that I have grown from seed and put in the ground to speed up the training process, as you mention above. However the trees are now at a size that I am happy with and I would like to begin the process of putting them into shallow pots, which when you live on NI are hard to find, and rely either on off island trips or the internet to get one. I don't want to pull them out of the ground and then cut too much root mass off in one go, for fear of killing the tree, and while I realise that the plastic pots are cheaper they don't enable me to spread the roots horizontally. I want to take the time and let the tree get used to a wide shallow container. If this takes a few years that's ok, as I said the trees are now at a size that I am happy with, and any further training of the tree will just be refinement. (Besides, one of them is a sequoia so I don't want it to get too big!!) I have found that if a tree is left in a normal plastic pot for too long then the roots tend to thicken in a downward direction rather than outward. I have a ficus that I have had this trouble with.

    thanks again for your reply
     

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