Can I see your grow out boxes?

Ry2Tree2

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Also of note: I pre-drill every hole to reduce cracking.
Hey so I dont know much about wood working, and I don't own a drill, but I intend to make my first grow box this weekend. Is cracking a major problem with good ole hammer and nails? I assumed everyone used screws for convenience.
 

Tieball

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Hey so I dont know much about wood working, and I don't own a drill, but I intend to make my first grow box this weekend. Is cracking a major problem with good ole hammer and nails? I assumed everyone used screws for convenience.
I use screws mainly because they hold better....and can more easily be removed if necessary. I like the control a screw gives me. I seem to be prone to hammering crooked. Nails work...just use the right size and thickness for the wood you’re using. I’ve read about dulling the point to avoid splitting and cracking. I’m not convinced that the sharp point is the problem. I believe the problem is that splitting happens when the nail is to thick for the wood or the nail is hammered just to close to the edge of the board. There’s only so much give in the cells of the wood. Nails can split wood....so can screws.
 
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BigBen

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I know in some cases folks don't have the room to plant in-ground, so they use grow-boxes...
I tried the search function, but didn't find what I was looking for.

So OK, I need to ask this, as "silly" as it may seem.
Just wondering why grow-boxes are used in some cases, as opposed to large training pots?

Inquiring minds, and all that jazz. :D
 
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M. Frary

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I know in some cases folks don't have the room to plant in-ground, so they use grow-boxes...
I tried the search function, but didn't find what I was looking for.

So OK, I need to ask this, as "silly" as it may seem.
Just wondering why grow-boxes are used in some cases, as opposed to training pots?

Inquiring minds, and all that jazz. :D
Because a grow box is just that. A box used to regrow roots and grow out branches or the tree in some cases.
A training pot is used to train the tree into being in small pots. Once in one of these trunk growth slows down to a crawl. It's used to refine the tree. Get the little leaves,and twigs going. It's the last step before the final bonsai pot.
 

BigBen

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Thank you Mike, I appreciate the insight & quick reply.

Now I have another cool project to work on.
 

BigBen

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Just another quick question...
Wouldn't we get the same result if we use a very large (and if need be, a large & shallow) pot though?
 

M. Frary

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Just another quick question...
Wouldn't we get the same result if we use a very large (and if need be, a large & shallow) pot though?
You could. But then what do you do with an expensive large pot.
The grow boxes Vance invented are what a lot of people use. Also colanders or pond baskets. They all let the tree grow but the thing we really use them for is to grow fine feeder roots. Roots grow out to the mesh and stops. It is essentially being cut by air. It then sends out a feeder root further back.
This keeps the roots from winding around and around the inside of the pot. It gives you tons of feeder roots. Which you need in a bonsai pot. Not just a few big fat ones.
Putting a tree in something lime this also allows you to pump more water hence more fresh oxygen through the roots. Like putting a supercharger on a gas engine. The more air you can pump through the better the performance.
 

Ry2Tree2

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In my case I just have a huge tree that I need to put into some sort of a pot, and I don't own any large pots. This practicality is just as important as the air properties above.

This tree is one I collected last fall. It did okay and creeped along at a much slower rate, than the other two cedars I collected in the same year. I think that may be due to its size. I had been using the plastic wrap method on my rootballs and only planning to put into training pots once healthy, but high winds from an incoming storm blew the thing over, giving me some urgency to slip pot it into a wooden pot and tie it down. Surrounding it with pumice will hopefully hasten it's recovery to health in the next year or two as well.

received_1396309957152380.jpeg received_1396310287152347.jpeg
 
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Vance Wood

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It's hard to tell from the photo but this tree does not look like it is doing so well at all, sorry the photo-----
 

Ry2Tree2

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It's hard to tell from the photo but this tree does not look like it is doing so well at all, sorry the photo-----
It came from a bog with highly acidic water. This causes nitrogen uptake to be inhibited, and the plant forms incomplete chlorophyll. In time the brown fades back to green. One interesting thing though is that the underside of each frond is a perfect green and all of the ones I collected at the time have the observations (except they have already changed to being all green). Like I said, this one has been slower to recover, but some areas put on a fair amount of new growth.

If anyone can take a stab at why the underside remains green, I would be fascinated to hear some hypotheses and have not been able to come up with any yet.
 

Tieball

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I use grow boxes made of wood...because winter can be harsh. The wooden boxes add a certain amount of insulation. The boxes are also stable when I move them or turn trees around (I wire trees into the boxes the same as I would wire in a bonsai pot). The boxes also allow me to screw eyelets wherever I want to attach wires to pull down branches when needed. The boxes, made with treated 1x6, each last about 5-7 years....and I make them to the size I want. After the boxes get older I use them for moss growing, used soil collection or a quick rooting flat for collected American Elm seedlings. The slats I put in the bottom have a space all the way around the bottom as well as a space in between each slat. This has worked well for me.
 

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