Not a very good idea. What tends to happen with small trees in big pots is they get waterlogged and in the case of citrus, die.

I've had a citrus tree in a 15 gallon pot for 7 years. It has fruit every year. Last year it shot up such strong growth, 3-4 ft, I had to prune it back. It has been covered with bloom for 6 wks.

It's been in that pot all that time in about 10 gal actual soil and never repotted. So my point is you don't need a big pot. Go with something you can handle. For me that's 15 gal or smaller.

I plan to bury the pot 1/2 in the ground because the location is near a drain field. Thank you for your answers.

growerfrankie:

If you are going to bury the pot half in the ground, nothing much matters. In effect you are planting in a small raised bed. The tree will root into the soil as if the pot weren't there. Only problem is that the roots may get strangled at the pot holes.

Why not just plant it into the ground and forget the pot? That sounds better to me.

If you plan on burying the pot, then why not drill holes through out the whole pot on the side walls?

Also, if you have a very fast, non-compacting soilmix, in which the structure of it will hold up for years to come, you can do it...

Look up the gritty mix in the container forums...

Mike..:-)