Ground growing dilema

[WNC Bonsai]

I have a number of tridents, zelkova, and quince that I wanted to plant in the ground for a few years to beef them up. However the only place I have to put them is down in the wood lot behind the house. The canopy there is mainly tall tulip poplar that give dappled sunshine most of the day with pockets of afternoon sun. Would they be better off left in large grow pots at the end of my driveway or down in the dappled shade area where their roots would be unrestricted but probably get less sunlight?

 

[Jzack605]

Those all need full sun.

they’ll grow tall and leggy in a forest floor setting.

driveway will also give off a ton of heat which will require more watering at the very least.

 

[Dav4]

I have various species of trees including trident and quince, squeezed into pretty much every open space in my yard. Without a doubt, you’ll get the best growth with more sun, but I found that partial shade will still yield adequate results, particularly down in the south. Honestly, I would plant a few in both locations and see what happens.

 

[Shibui]

Sun is good for growth but so is root run. Trees planted under other trees will undoubtedly have root competition from the larger trees. Whether the extra space in the ground is enough to beat the root competition and shade is debatable. Best to do as @Dav4 suggests and try both side by side to see what happens.
Trees among other larger trees will indeed grow tall and leggy but we have pruning tools and can cope with that during the growing phase.

 

[Tieball]

I have no idea what the end of your driveway looks like. If it looks like mine the end sits by the road and is not a good place for trees. However, if it were my choice I would go with grow boxes with fairly good, but not costly, substrate mixed with pine bark chips. I would place the boxes where they get sun but are also easily accessed for watering. I have a shade cloth I use with grow boxes that shades the substrate for less evaporation but allows plenty of air exchange. This cuts down watering problems. I have all-weather outdoor trees though. I select trees that work with what I have to offer the trees. I do not buy, or dig up, trees destined to create more problems in growing in my available environment.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

If the wood lot is for chopping wood, do so and make a few cords for winter and plant the trees in the vacant space.
Also, if a woodchuck could chuck wood, would.........I better quit now.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

OK, I put all 18 trees in the ground this morning in a pretty open area under the high canopy. This location is at the back of the wooded area so gets pretty good afternoon sun through a break in the canopy. The soil is pretty good and deep there, a sandy loam with a lot of humus in the upper layers where the plant roots are. Because this area is dominated by tall tulip poplars there really weren’t a lot of shallow tree roots like you would have under maples. I watered them in good and we are due for some rain over the next few days so they should settle in nice. The tridents and J, maples have already put on a couple feet of new growth so we’ll see if that continues in this new location over the summer. I plan to air layer one of the maples and the elms need ground layers to get rid of overgrown roots. Photos tomorrow.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I have no idea what the end of your driveway looks like. If it looks like mine the end sits by the road and is not a good place for trees. However, if it were my choice I would go with grow boxes with fairly good, but not costly, substrate mixed with pine bark chips. I would place the boxes where they get sun but are also easily accessed for watering. I have a shade cloth I use with grow boxes that shades the substrate for less evaporation but allows plenty of air exchange. This cuts down watering problems. I have all-weather outdoor trees though. I select trees that work with what I have to offer the trees. I do not buy, or dig up, trees destined to create more problems in growing in my available environment.

Good tips but my wife is a master gardener and what I might want to do might not meet her fancy gardening approach. So anything I propose for the front or close in back yard must fit into her gardening plan. Back in the woods I can do pretty much as I please. Fortunately monkey poles and benches can be made to blend into her landscape. However she does not appreciate my grow boxes and black plastic tubs scattered around the edge of the well manicured lawn and flower beds! The things we have to do to stay on their good side.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

The rain stopped and finally a little sunlight made and appearance so here is a shot of the growing ground. Tridents and quince up front, then elms and hornbeam, J. maples in the rear.

 

[AJL]

If you have deer or rabbits in the neighbourhood you might need to protect them! The plus side is they will fatten up much quicker in the ground and will need far less watering once their roots establish

 

[Tieball]

Good tips but my wife is a master gardener and what I might want to do might not meet her fancy gardening approach. So anything I propose for the front or close in back yard must fit into her gardening plan. Back in the woods I can do pretty much as I please. Fortunately monkey poles and benches can be made to blend into her landscape. However she does not appreciate my grow boxes and black plastic tubs scattered around the edge of the well manicured lawn and flower beds! The things we have to do to stay on their good side.

Oh....I understand.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

If you have deer or rabbits in the neighbourhood you might need to protect them! The plus side is they will fatten up much quicker in the ground and will need far less watering once their roots establish

No deer and the coyotes and foxes keep the rabbit population down. The only critters that are a problem are squirrels who will sometime gnaw the bark on some of my bonsai. More often they just gnaw the plastic training pots.