fruit trees

Mike J says...
Coffee, don't do that! I have spent half a lifetime in growing forestry trees and what you are suggesting never works out beneficially to the tree. Let me explain as briefly as I can. The ideal fruit or any type of tree you select in the nursery should be young, actively growing and free of pests and diseases. As a young tree ages in a pot, the root ball will intensify with some of the roots circling inside the pot. Even re-potting it, if the lateral roots are not redirected straight down to the base of the pot, they will continue to circle. After the tree is finally allowed the freedom of the soil, those roots that have circled will slowly strangle the taproot(s). The tree will snap off its tap root in a strong wind and you are left with a tree that won't stand up.

Even so, if you go through all this trouble of potting up young actively growing trees, you are going to have trees that will take forever to get going once you plant them in the ground.

The best plan is to see your local nursery and get them to order in fresh young trees as you need them. Don't take ones that have been sitting there for twelve months. They will have circling roots and will not do as well as fresh young stock that has a good well developed root ball without root circling.

There is a method of fixing circling roots, but it is a bit drastic and there can be losses if extra care is not taken.

denise1 says...
During my time landscape gardening I got the feedback that as well as circling roots, the roots of a big container tree in potting mix can take a long time to adjust to soil when planted out. Many customers will insist on the expensive big specimen trees but we would explain that the young plants will quickly catch up as young plants adjust quicker to soil. I have seen big trees die soon after planting or just not grow. Sometimes I have grown plants potted in a mix of pine sawdust from the mill, with some silty friable clay or soil added. They can be grown to a bigger size then result in a better "take" once planted in the ground.