Plastic training pots

I just bought these. They are called onion / bulb planters. I think they are ideal. You can use them for planting in the ground for the screw onto a board method. You can line them with jute for air pruning. Lots of places for securing wire. They are a foot across. And cost less than equivalent sized pond planters. I bought 6 for £15.00. on Amazon.
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Graft said:
I just bought these. They are called onion / bulb planters. I think they are ideal. You can use them for planting in the ground for the screw onto a board method. You can line them with jute for air pruning. Lots of places for securing wire. They are a foot across. And cost less than equivalent sized pond planters. I bought 6 for £15.00. on Amazon.
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hahahahaha.
 
I haven't bought one of these but ran across this and thought it could be a reasonable training pot for larger trees, they measure 21" x 6" , 7 gallon
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Hack Yeah! said:
I haven't bought one of these but ran across this and thought it could be a reasonable training pot for larger trees, they measure 21" x 6" , 7 gallon
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These water tubs are rubber and super flexible, great for knocking the ice out if they freeze. I wonder if the flex would allow great disruption to the roots if you grew a tree in there. I guess if you didn't move it this might work.
 
Bonsai Nut said:
If you look at this photo, the large trays are Anderson flats, the smaller cubes are large pond baskets. 6 of the trays fit exactly on an 8' shelf.
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Are you using anything for spacing under the trays, to allow drainage? I noticed they list a 1" "tray leg" on the site that you linked, but I am not sure those would be sufficiently sturdy to support the tree and substrate.
 
luvinthemountains said:
Are you using anything for spacing under the trays, to allow drainage? I noticed they list a 1" "tray leg" on the site that you linked, but I am not sure those would be sufficiently sturdy to support the tree and substrate.
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Yes they sell the legs, but I have never used them. I have not had drainage problems using these flats either directly on the ground, on pavers, or on bonsai shelves. I have pre-bonsai up to about 6' tall in them. In some cases I purposefully place them on a bed of mulch and let the roots run out the bottom of the flat into the mulch bed. Then I lift the flat every year and trim the roots that are outside of the flat. With taller trees you have to be sure to wire the tree into the flat so that it doesn't blow over, but I think the same would be said for any taller piece of material in any grow box.

Anything that would require a larger container (24" square and larger) I would build a grow box for.
 
leatherback said:
Hm.. Second half of the post fell away..

I picked up a bundle of these just the other day, with the same thought.
I am slightly disappointed with their studiness though.

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They're not too bad. I don't think it matters if grounding them. If not just nail then to a piece of wood or something. I think they are perfect for Ebihara. yours look a bit deeper than mine. and if that is a cinder block it is on then not quite as wide. We should share notes at the end of the year.
 
Graft said:
They're not too bad. I don't think it matters if grounding them. If not just nail then to a piece of wood or something. I think they are perfect for Ebihara. yours look a bit deeper than mine. and if that is a cinder block it is on then not quite as wide. We should share notes at the end of the year.
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I have 2 sizes. I would be quite surprized if yours are very difference from mine!

It IS the end of the year mate!
 
leatherback said:
I have 2 sizes. I would be quite surprized if yours are very difference from mine!

It IS the end of the year mate!
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No I think they are the same. Mine came with a German label. But I think the fact you have put wire mesh in them will make them more sturdy.
 
Bonsai Nut said:
Those are 15" Anderson grow flats (aka band flats or band trays). I own over 100.

I buy them at Stuewe & Sons for $3.65 each plus shipping (from Oregon). If you want to buy 1,000, you can get the unit price down to $2.70 :)
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Yeah, even just buying 40 of them, with shipping it's about $6.50 per flat. $15 is quite the hike. I'm sure they buy a bigger bulk so it should be even better than that. Still deciding whether to bite the bullet and get them or buy the superfly plastic training pots. I was also looking at the AFLAT3 20 x 15 x 2.5 roughly, seems nice for a forest or seedlings. Anyone know if you order more than one type, does the shipping increase?

Those TSC are flexible plastic. Maybe if it was light soil and small tree.
 
Timbo said:
Yeah, even just buying 40 of them, with shipping it's about $6.50 per flat. $15 is quite the hike. I'm sure they buy a bigger bulk so it should be even better than that. Still deciding whether to bite the bullet and get them or buy the superfly plastic training pots. I was also looking at the AFLAT3 20 x 15 x 2.5 roughly, seems nice for a forest or seedlings. Anyone know if you order more than one type, does the shipping increase?

Those TSC are flexible plastic. Maybe if it was light soil and small tree.
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You can call them and they'll give you a shipping quote in real time. They are actually pretty large when it comes to shipping. They stack, but they don't stack very flat (unlike pond baskets which nest right next to each other). My last order was for fifty baskets and it came in quite a large box. Much better value, IMHO, than 10" pond baskets which I can only get for about $3 each at Lowes with my military discount.

The flats are made in very heavy plastic. Their original design intent is to serve as a reusable tray for nurseries to use to hold smaller blow-mold plastic square pots for seedlings and cuttings. However they work great for bonsai, and the only way you can't reuse them is if you step on them and break their lip :) The mesh on the bottom is a little large for pumice, so I line the bottom with a square piece of plastic window screen.
 
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