I need to repot a young pomegranate tree; planter cracked. Not ready to put it in the ground yet; maybe not at all; depends on redesign of area.
Very large planters are pricey, so wondered if large redwood planter would do the trick. Any experience out there?
TIA
HB
I'd always choose a wooden planter over pottery... wooden planters ere fairly simple to construct from a section of privacy fence, redwood/cedar both work well... how intricate depends on your creativity.
I had three dwarf citrus in redwood tubs. These were cylendrical instead of tapered, about 20 inches across and equally deep. After a while, either the redwood would rot or else the steel straps would rust through.
I repotted the dwarf lemon about three times. The navel orange and kumquat about once; they were newer than the lemon. Then I had trouble locating new redwood tubs. My drawf citrus are now in clay pots. These are tapered, about 22 inches across at the top and equally deep.
As I recall, you are in southern California. Avoid plastic pots. They will get hot in the sun and cook the pomegranate's roots. Clay pots and redwood tubs (if you can find them) will stay cool as long as the potting mix inside remains moist.
HB
That is an often-repeated "fact" but I wonder if it is a bit too simplistic. If you have standard terracotta-coloured pots I would think it is true. But what if you have white plastic pots and dark-coloured clay pots? I would bet on the white plastic remaining cooler than the dark clay. Then, of course, you have the cooling effect of water evaporating through the clay. That's not true of glazed clay pots, however, where evaporation can't occur. On the other hand, you are more likely to find a plant drying out in an unglazed clay pot than a plastic one. Then there is the consideration of what you want in winter. A dark plastic pot which heats up quickly may be preferable to a light-coloured clay one which keeps the roots cold!
I would think that it might depend on the type of plant you are growing. Cacti and other succulents won't mind their roots heating up or being dry for extended periods. Most normal plants won't like hot or dry roots.
If the OP intends moving the plants around then large clay containers will be very heavy. I would go for white plastic, or terracotta plastic painted white.
Some interesting comments at ger.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01372847
It was almost 10 years. The dwarf lemon was a little over 30 years old when it died. I was then told that dwarf citrus in containers rarely live longer than 25 years. In 30 years, I started with a redwood tub, got a new tub at about 10 years, and a third one at about 20 years. Then I switched to clay pots at about the time the lemon died. My replacement lemon now gives more fruit than anyone can use.
My original dwarf kumquat committed suicide long after I moved it to a clay pot. Its roots clogged the drain hole at the bottom of the pot, and it drowned. Now I occasionally check the drain holes of all three pots. This was not a problem with the redtubs I previously used because each had four drain holes.
Alternative is plastic.
I had planted tomatoes in a trough I made from a deteriorating redwood picnic table. It lasted maybe three years before rotting out.
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