Squared or round pots?

[Sanips]

I'm germinating some stuff and I would like to choose the best pot option for the seedings. What kind of pot do you prefer? Do you pot differently for a pinnate and fan palm? 

[Neil C]

I prefer square pots for seedlings but only because when you have large amounts they fit together without wasting space. I be surprised if anyone uses different shaped pots for fan or feather palms but you never know.

 

Regards Neil

[Hamal]

For seedlings and small palms, I prefer square pots as well for the same reason as Neil. At that stage, most of the palms look the same (pinnate or fan palms) and are hard to distinguish. So you need to use labels anyway if you want to keep track of the species.

[Alcibiades]

i also use square pots for seedlings to effectively use the available space.

[Pal Meir]

For small seedlings I too prefer squared pots, but when they become bigger round ones. Below two photos of the same palms:

[Jamesasb]

Pal you are always teasing us with these photos...... Perfect palms

 

[Pal Meir]

After the round Ø14.8xH17.4 cm pots I am using as next squared 20x20xH23 cm pots as double set. Whereas the inner pot has four holes the outer one without holes serves as saucer:

Here two examples with Lytocaryum insigne and Lytocaryum weddellianum:

[Sanips]

@Pal Meir they seem to be high-end pots

[Pal Meir]

The same double-pot system for palms with suckers, e.g. Rhapis:

[Nessie42]

Where do you get your palm pots from, Pal Meir?

[Pal Meir]

@Nessie42 From Dehner: 20x20x23,5 cm 5,99 € (# 5167622); 30x30x29 cm 8,99 € (#2213007); all without holes.

[Steve Mac]

I was told years ago that the advantage of square pots over round is that it tends to encourage the roots to grow down rather than circle the pot. I don't know about palms specifically but for some plants if the roots start circling they will continue to do that even after they are planted out and thus be unstable as a mature tree in the ground. Olives are one such plant. A bit like if you 'screw' a plant  into the ground forcing the roots to circle, apparently this treatment will affect some plants adversely but not others. Obviously not a concern if you do not want to plant into the ground.

[Pal Meir]

3 hours ago, gtsteve said:

I was told years ago that the advantage of square pots over round is that it tends to encourage the roots to grow down rather than circle the pot. I don't know about palms specifically but for some plants if the roots start circling they will continue to do that even after they are planted out and thus be unstable as a mature tree in the ground. Olives are one such plant. A bit like if you 'screw' a plant  into the ground forcing the roots to circle, apparently this treatment will affect some plants adversely but not others. Obviously not a concern if you do not want to plant into the ground.

When you have a good soil mix and an adequate way of watering the roots will not circle on the bottom, but fill almost the whole volume of the (round) pot:

[Steve Mac]

Hhhhmmm Pal, down under we call that pot bound, and think that it is overdue for putting in the ground. In dirt. Soil. Real soil.

I think that you produce the most beautiful perfect bonsai palms that I have ever seen.

And your photographic skills have been correctly acknowledged for years, and by me.

Your statement and photographic evidence is obviously correct for Syagrus insignis.

I love the look that free draining mix of rocks and stuff that you use very successfully in pots, although I don't see any sign of what we down here call soil.

As a gifted multilinguist you would have noticed that I was being very general bordering on vague in my offering of what little knowledge I have.

I apologize for being so unhelpful. 

But mate, Seriously, as I said,   "will affect some plants adversely but not others. Obviously not a concern if you do not want to plant into the ground. "

 Pal, you grow the best bonsai Syagrus I have seen, The last Syagrus that I cut down would have crushed a house. And I screwed that one into the ground too.

No photographic evidence included.

They didn't all fall over in the wind, but some of my plants have. On this forum we all love palms, but I would imagine that most of us all grow other plants too.

I would have hoped that my comments would have helped someone with their garden, we don't all grow in 17.4 cm pots.

[Pal Meir]

Here a couple of other bonsai palms in round and square pots: Chamaerops humilis, Phoenix roebelenii, and Trachycarpus wagnerianus.

[Steve Mac]

Ahh yes beautiful. You do have a green thumb.

[cm05]

For me it really depends on the species, mainly the plant's form and color. I'm very big on finding the perfect pot + top dressing, and if I get it wrong I won't hesitate to repot something, I've even done quick repots of plants outside in the snow.

I don't have any palms in square planters, I wanted one for my cat palm but everything I saw looked cheap, I finally settled on a nice looking (round) garbage bin I found for $1.49, which is as cheap as cheap gets lol.

[PalmTreeDude]

Seed flats for seedlings! With the little disposable  (I don't throw them away) take off able (Um) squre pots. 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I use 4x4x14" deep square pots for almost everything now to maximize our utilization of space, watering, while allowing a week of water malfunctions without having seedlings die.  After trying everything under the sun we just ordered another 20,000 of these pots and will not be going back to anything else.

[DoomsDave]

For me, little seedlings go into square liners are much as possible. They're inexpensive, save space, and can be re-used for a long while.

Larger plants go into round pots mostly because they're cheaper than comparable square ones. Last time I looked, a square 5-gallon ran 4 times as much as a round "egg can."

Hmm.

As for retaining the shape of the pot, palms do, but they also grow beyond it. I've dug up many a large palm, and found the original rootball intact, with "octopus tentacles" of new roots to anchor the grown plant (e.g., Roystonea, Dypsis onilahensis "droopy"). If it's smaller, it often keeps the shape, perhaps with a tentacle or two (e.g, Chamadorea metallica or ernestii-augustii).

Kapoho Palms used to used those "bomb pots" which, if the plants got rootbound in them, resulted in "bomby rootballs."

[JT in Japan]

On 10/31/2016, 10:07:54, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

I use 4x4x14" deep square pots for almost everything now to maximize our utilization of space, watering, while allowing a week of water malfunctions without having seedlings die.  After trying everything under the sun we just ordered another 20,000 of these pots and will not be going back to anything else.

I know it differs by species, but about how long can you keep them in this size, Joe? 1 year? More?

JT