How to place bonsai in larger outdoor container

[Juliew]

Hello Everyone!
I have decided to put a Chinese Elm in a round container (23" diameter, 8" deep) outdoors. I live in East Central Florida, hardiness zone 9b. It will be located in an area that gets bright light all day, and some low-angled light in the afternoons. It will be mostly covered by the eave of the house. I just got the tree today from California, and it looks good.
I have two questions: (1) Will the elm do okay in Central Florida? I have read where it says that it should, but you know you can't believe everything you read on the internet . (2) when it comes to placing it in the larger container, should I transplant it by taking it out of its small container, or can I just plant it with its container in the larger container? It would seem to me that it would be easier to take care of if I could just take it out if I needed to without hurting the roots, but I really don't know
I appreciate any help and suggestions you can provide!
Julie

[rainbowgardener]

You posted this in the bonsai section. Bonsai is generally considered the art of maintaining trees in miniaturized form, although miniaturized is a relative term. There are some trees considered bonsai that are pretty large.

Part of what keeps the trees miniature is being kept in the very small pots, which allows only a very small root system. This helps stunt the growth of the tree.

So it depends on what you want to do with your little tree. If you want to keep it very small as a typical bonsai, then you need to keep it in the small pot, even if you put the small pot inside a bigger one. If you put it directly in the big pot, it will eventually grow to fill the big pot, with a much larger root system and so correspondingly larger trunk, branches, etc.

[Juliew]

Thank you for your response, Rainbowgardener. I would like to keep it small, and I understand that the root system can grow into the larger pot, thus creating a larger plant. Is it possible to take it (the small pot with the elm) out of the big pot from time to time (whatever the requirements are for elms), trim the roots, maybe place it in new soil, repot it in the same small container before placing it back into the larger container? I hope this makes sense! I appreciate your help.
Thanks,
Julie

[rainbowgardener]

yes, you can.

[Juliew]

Thank you for your help rainbowgardener!