Water savings goes hand in hand with root management

Root-pruning containers have become staples in our industry. These pots are designed to limit or eliminate circling roots, and create a better mass of roots throughout the growing medium.

One of the early adapters to this technology was Possibility Place Nursery in Monee, Ill.

The company, which specializes in native Midwestern plants, evolved from hand digging trees to milk cartons to highly technical container production.

“We were hand digging bur oaks and losing about 30 percent of the trees in our customers’ yards. We needed a new modus operandi,” said owner Connor Shaw.

The company’s first container production was greenhouse producing seedlings in milk cartons. The current container production has been refined to include RootMaker root-pruning pots and mulch to heel in the containers, which greatly reduces water needs.

For shrub production, the company plants liners in 5-gallon Rounder pots, which are placed on weed-fabric beds. The pots are then heeled in to the rim with mulch.

“The pots have 5/64-inch holes that allow roots to escape into the surrounding media. This is reducing our water needs by 60 or 70 percent,” Shaw said.

Newly planted liners are watered via overhead sprinklers for about four weeks until the container media is settled. Then plants are watered via drip. Shaw estimates that during the summer months, even with several straight days of 90-degree temperatures, he has to water the crops only about once every three days.

The pots are designed to prune roots that have grown out of the pot once they reach a large enough size. This generates more roots inside the container, creating a fibrous system.

For more: Possibility Place Nursery, (708) 534-3988, www.possibilityplace.com.