Transplanting Pecan Saplings

[a0c8c]

I need to know about hwo soon I need to get these in the ground or bigger pots.

[img]https://i29.tinypic.com/afbk41.jpg[/img]

The one on the right I pulled first, out of a flower pot it was trying to take over. The other I pulled up from the yard instead of mowing it over. My wife and I have been helping her mom out until she gets disbility, and we're going to move around September. We want to take these with us and have our own Pecan trees. The house we're moving to in September isn't permanent either, we'll probably only stay a year. Can I get real big pots and put them in there for the next year and a half or do they need to get in the ground soon?

Also, the one on the right is starting to get dry and the other(smaller pot) isn't what could be wrong? I don't fertilizee them, just water them and it has a bigger pot with better draining soil then the small pot.

[bullthistle]

The white container is large enough for a few years, but the other one isn't. If you can find another continer the size of the white one, transplant if after it sheds it leaves and then you can move them from place to place.

[a0c8c]

The white container is large enough for a few years, but the other one isn't. If you can find another continer the size of the white one, transplant if after it sheds it leaves and then you can move them from place to place.

So I can expect them to be fine for atleast two years then? As long as I move the one in the small pot. That'll give us plenty of time to find the perfect spots for them once we move. What's weird, is the one in the little pot is taller and healthier looking and it's about a month younger than the other one.

What should I feed them? And should I just wait til next season to start feeding them, so far they've just had dirt and some compost (mixed in the dirt at the beginning).

[Diane]

I don't know about Pecan trees but I've had tree saplings growing in flower pots too. Birds or squirrels planted them.
Some are two to three years old.
When I put them in a larger pot they get larger. They need it though because the roots start to show on top.
I have a mullberry that is now 3 years old and over 10 feet tall.

[Diane]

I forgot to add that I never feed them. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. My brother may take the mullberry.

[a0c8c]

I'd keep it. My wife and I just got married in September, so since these sprouted in spring, it's close enough to mark the beginning of the rest of our lives together. Two pecan trees, planted close together, growing intertwined and becoming one massive pecan tree 50 years later.

[applestar]

That's so sweet! Well, let's see if we can keep them healthy.
But if you want to keep them in pots for TWO YEARS, it's going to be a bit difficult.

Pecan trees, like many other nut trees, grow a single long TAP ROOT. They should not be bent or broken. I dug up a shagbark hickory (cousin to pecans) with top growth no more than 1' that I dug 18" deep and still couldn't find the end of the tap root! And the root diameter was twice as big as the trunk diameter.

That little one definitely needs to go in a pot 2 or 3 times as deep. The white one too. Professional nurseries use pots like these:
[img]https://www.stuewe.com/images/treepots2_sm.jpg[/img]
https://www.stuewe.com/products/treepots.html

I really think your best bet for the time being is to pot them up in 5 gallon buckets with LOTS of drainage holes drilled into them (watch you don't compromise structural integrity) Make sure the soil is porous. I don't usually recommend them but you should probably use a good proportion -- 1/6 or so mixture of PERLITE -- and 1/6 sand for extra weight.

[bullthistle]

Planting the 1 gallon into compost will be fine otherwise if you lighten the soil too much you could run dry because we cannot always remember to water by hand. It's true that taproots go on forever however you will run into problems if it grows outside of the pot and roots into regular soil. You shouldn't have any problem over two years.

[a0c8c]

Yeah..., can't buy volume products for two trees. I guess I'll get some tall buckets. I might plant them quicker, but you never know. Maybe I'll buy some cheap trashcans, and let them grow there. Is metal or plastic better? I'm talking the tall round ones, might look kinda cool.