Pot size for Kaffir lime sapling

I bought a Kaffir (or Makrut to be PC) lime tree yesterday and I think the pot I bought for it may be too big. Was doing some more reading up to make sure I take the right care of it when I read what pointed out was a common beginners mistake, getting it a pot to "grow into". So, attached is a picture of the pot it came in, the pot I put it in, and what I bought as a smaller pot for potential re-repotting. I should mention that the roots had made it to the bottom of the original cheap nursery pot but it wasn't at all rootbound or anything.

So, is the pot I planted it in too big? Since I just transplanted it yesterday is it safe to transplant it again so soon? I was fairly gentle in my transplanting and only lightly teased the roots. For further background info it's planted in Miracle-Gro Cactus/Palm/Citrus soil with some small rocks at the bottom for further drainage.

Thanks!!

This message was edited Sep 16, 2009 8:21 PM

That pot does look a little large for the tree but I don't know that it will do any harm ... just be careful not to over-water. With such a large pot, the tree will just be concentrating on growing roots to fill the pot, rather than growing taller. The pot on the right looks like it is more the size for the tree so you could always re-pot it in that one and use the prettier pot in the center for a cache pot, sitting the plain one down inside the larger pot. If you leave the tree in the larger pot, just be very careful about watering so that you aren't over-watering, which will cause root rot.

Good luck with your little tree and I hope you get lots of limes next year!

If the roots were filling up that nursery container then the size pot you have it in is probably OK--maybe a little on the large side but should be OK. Just be a little careful on the watering--the reason why having a pot that's too big can cause problems is that there's a lot of soil and not so many roots to take up water, so the roots can't take up water that fast and the soil stays wet for a long time. Having the gravel layer in the bottom doesn't actually help drainage either, and it can actually hurt. If you want more information, here's a thread that explains things better than I could http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/719569/ (it's in a forum that's only open to subscribers so you'll only be able to read the first post, but there's a lot of info in that first post). Also make sure that when you water that you don't let water sit in the saucer you have underneath the plant--let water drain through but then make sure you empty out the saucer or else the plant can end up with wet feet.

Thanks both of you. It hadn't occurred to me I could put the plain pot inside the nice pot. If it won't stress the plant too much I think I'll repot it into the small pot for now and ditch the stones in the meantime. If it has grown enough I can go back to the large pot next spring when I set it outside again.

A copy/paste job from one of my previous posts:
How large a container needs to be, or CAN be, and how much soil a planting needs/will tolerate before drainage & saturation is an issue depends on the 3-way relationship between plant mass, container size, and soil type. We often concern ourselves with "over-potting" (using a container that is too large), but "over-potting" is a term that arises from a lack of basic knowledge about the 3-way relationship noted, which should logically determine appropriate container size(s).

It's often parroted that you should only move up one size in containers when "potting-up". The reasoning is the soil will remain wet too long and cause root rot issues, but it is the size/mass of the material and soil type/composition that determines both the upper & lower limits of appropriate container size - not consecutive volume progression.

Plants grown in slow soils need to be grown in containers with smaller soil volumes so that the plant can use water quickly, allowing air to return to the soil. This (smaller soil volumes) and the root constriction that accompanies it will cause plants to extend and gain o/a mass much more slowly - a bane if rapid growth is the goal - a boon if growth restriction and a compact plant are what you have you sights set on.

Conversely, rampant growth can be had by growing in very large containers and in very fast soils where frequent watering and fertilizing is required - so it's not that plants rebel at being potted into very large containers or volumes of soil per se, but rather, they rebel at being potted into very large containers with a large volume of soil that is too slow and water-retentive.

We know that there is an inverse relationship between soil particle size and the height of the PWT in containers. As particle size increases, the height of the PWT decreases, until at about a particle size of just under 1/8 inch, soils will no longer hold perched water. If there is no perched water, the soil is ALWAYS well aerated, even when the soil is at container capacity (saturated).

So, if you aim for a soil composed primarily of particles >1/16", there is no upper limit to container size. The lower size limit will be determined by the soil volume's ability to furnish water enough to sustain the plant between irrigations."

You can grow a very small plant in a very large container (no upper size limit) if the soil holds little or no perched water (saturated soil).

If there is anything in what I said that you don't understand, and that you WANT to understand, the link in Ecrane's post a couple of posts upthread will provide more details.

Al

The Cactus-Palm-Citrus soil is mostly a mix of sphagnum, perlite and sand so it drains rapidly.

I'm not after rapid growth, I'm content to let it go at a comfortable pace until it gets big enough to start harvesting leaves, until then I can buy them cheaply at an Asian grocer. If it fruits eventually great but I won't be bothered if it doesn't want to. It'll probably be a long time if I ever break even on what the plant cost versus buying a bag of lime leaves for $1.25. This is mostly for entertainment value, it's just that I prefer plants that have some practical purpose.

The other article that ecrane posted was a little over my head but I think I understood the gist of it. I think that even though it's designed to drain my soil is so fine that it would hold more water.. at least that's the impression I have from reading the article and what you wrote. I put it in the smaller pot and ditched the stones. I imagine since the days are shortening and I'll be keeping it mostly inside until next spring that it's going to be dormant anyway and not take advantage of the growth opportunity the larger pot offered.

I imagine if I set the little pot in the big pot I could even put some pebbles and water beneath the small pot for humidity. Good idea, bad idea?

I really appreciate the detailed response, I'll have to study it all some more before it sinks in completely.

This message was edited Sep 17, 2009 8:33 AM