Growing boxes

Working on the assumption that there is no such thing as a stupid question, could anyone advise me on the best design for growing boxes. I have seen numerous examples, but thay all had trees in them, so it wasn't advisable to pick them up and have a look underneath.

Basically, I need to know what the best design for the base would be. Oh, and do you wait until you have the tree in your garden before you build a box to fit, or do you guess, the size you'll need, or do you just build a load of different sizes and try each one until you find one that fits?

I can show you what I built if you like?

__gary

Before we go any further with this, I'd just like to make it clear that I'm not usually in the habit of accepting the offers of strange men to 'show me theirs'. However, on this occasion, I feel that your strangeness level is well within acceptable limits.

Please, reveal your wares!

You can find plans for what I use here, along with some other options.

http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/articles/pots-slabs-pottery/grow-boxes-and-training-pots/


I hope this helps some,



Will

that's the one I usewd. worked canny well.

@ Will. Thanks, my friend. That's exactly what I was looking for. Right, I'm off to hunt through the shed for some 'stuff'.

Here's what I do.
[url=https://servimg.com/view/13441996/19][/url]

Well, I've simply been heading off to Home Depot and buying one of their 2-ft diameter 6 inch deep round black plastic pots/trays (usually found near where pond supplies are sold). The cost less than the materials for a grow box. I trill a dozen or so 1.5 inch round holes in the bottom, sit it on bricks and fill with soil and tree(s).

They sell rectangular ones, too (people use them to mix cement in) and these work as well.

Good idea Jim using plastics. That certainly is more practicle and the "Green" approach to the solution. I always had a problem with making pots for trees constructed out of Redwood. Just doesn't settle right to me. Let's put the 'redwood' in the pot.

__gary

Harleyrider wrote:@ Will. Thanks, my friend. That's exactly what I was looking for. Right, I'm off to hunt through the shed for some 'stuff'.

I used an unused set of pine shelves, took them apart and screwed them back together how I wanted them. Much easier than cutting all the bits of wood to length.

Thanks to everyone who offered help/suggestions on this. I've got an urge to try all the different methods and see which one works best for me, so that's just what I'm going to do!

For those of us who are unskilled at lumber and building, here is a different option.
Buy one already made...

Wee Tree training flat

Plastic is greener than wood?!? Plastics are hydrocarbons and one of the most worrying and damaging uses of our mineral resources to the environment.

Wood is a carbon neutral product. It absorbs the same amount of carbon dioxide as it releases when it rots. Grow it and use it, grow some more and feel no guilt.

Nadia Berg and Billy Stoetzer might have an opinion about this. Methane gas is 21 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. Petroleum-based plastics are recyclable.....ciao Leonardo

Kev Bailey wrote:Plastic is greener than wood?!? Plastics are hydrocarbons and one of the most worrying and damaging uses of our mineral resources to the environment.

Wood is a carbon neutral product. It absorbs the same amount of carbon dioxide as it releases when it rots. Grow it and use it, grow some more and feel no guilt.

I totally agree with this point of view. Many boo-hoo over using wood and applaud the use of petroleum based products. Here is the stupid truth. Though it is true that trees take at least fifty years to become a marketable commodity, it is a renewable resource none the less. Petroleum, on the other hand, not to mention the environmental impact of harvesting, processing and disposing of the stuff, takes millions of years to make. I will rejoice in the day when people finally decide that in life there is no free lunch unless, you are bacteria or virus. There is no way we as human beings can live without making some sort of impact on nature------hell, nature makes an impact on nature. I understand that when Mt. Pinatubo erupted it released more green house gasses than the total amount of the industrial revolution.

I understand that when Mt. Pinatubo erupted it released more green house gasses than the total amount of the industrial revolution.

Wow, I don't feel so guilty about leaving my tv on standby now.

Reading into this it seems part of the point is why use wood from the largest living tree on the planet, that less than 4% remain, a tree unique and complex gowing in a ecosystem developed over thousands of years, to grow a bonsai tree in. A bit of a paradox it seems. There must be a better way or material to use than redwood. ....... ciao Leonardo

leonardo wrote:Reading into this it seems part of the point is why use wood from the largest living tree on the planet, that less than 4% remain, a tree unique and complex gowing in a ecosystem developed over thousands of years, to grow a bonsai tree in. A bit of a paradox it seems. There must be a better way or material to use than redwood. ....... ciao Leonardo

You will be glad to know I now have to use Cedar. Redwood is no longer available. By the way, they have not been able to cut old growth Red Wood for years so don't worry about thousand year old trees. The farm grown Reds, if there is such a thing, are almost as bad as pine as far as durability; and that is the issue, durability, the time in use where wood wont rot. The other issue---if it's already cut and I can get it why not use it? Do you think may use, or avoidance of the material, is going to make anymore impact than spitting in the sea?

Once more we come full circle to the issue of use and environmental impact. It cannot be done---even breathing impacts the environment and God help you if you happen to be flatulent.