even if i bought wood.. to make it last.. i would have them potted in plastic and insure there were a lot of drain holes in the wood ... so it stayed as dry as possible .. so determination of the planter size.. would be a function of the pot size ... if that makes sense ... so.. at a min.. i would be thinking about a MINIMUM of a 25 gallon black pot ... see link.. no clue if that is a good price.. i got most of mine from recycle bins .... but i dont use them decoratively ... and that one is already 25 inches wide at the top .... any even in nurseries.. plants of the size you want.. BLOW OVER.. wind and stability are going to be your BIG PROBLEM ... especially if you buy them big ... and i should also point out.. that conifers have very specific potting media issues.. and what you fill the pot with will also be very important.. and its not going to be your standard bag of potting media .... i am sure you can do it.. but i doubt you are going to find the info you need here.. with the specificity you wish .... i simply dont think us tree peeps are going to have a lot of specific info for you ... other than to list the variables .... good luck ken ps: winter storage will also be an issue .... Here is a link that might be useful: link -- you shop price.. i am just showing the pot

A little update. Digging at an angle, I tried the trowel trick before heading off to work yesterday. A trowel will not touch that dirt. I had to get a shovel. I wasnâÂÂt kidding when I mentioned that the dirt is really rocky. ItâÂÂs pretty hard stuff to dig into, and thinking back, I had to use a pick axe when I originally planted the trees. Digging a small hole next to the root ball it looks like the soil was damp. Is there a word that is less than damp? Anyway, the top two inches of dirt looks like it is old beauty bark and after that the dirt turns to a tannish color. ItâÂÂs not clay, it is dirt but there is a lot of rock in it. On another note, spraying water on the top layer of dirt the water just runs off of it until it gets pretty wet. Also, I filled the small holes that I had dug with the shovel with water to see how fast the water would drain and it took a good minute before it drained. I donâÂÂt know if this is a good thing or not. I have included another picture (hopefully you can see it good enough) before the retaining wall went up to give you an idea of the dirt I am dealing with.

On the Strike 3 label I found mention of "for controll of woody plants" a few pages in. Also there are the usual warnings about drift and not spraying if winds excede 10 mph. My wild guess is some got on your trees due to wind or spray error. Totally a guess. Really it seemed listed as a systemic but with all the overspray warnings I figure contact must not be good for plants. Guys, what was that spray which one of them companies in the north is discovered is killing some trees? Was in the paper months back but my google skills are failing me. Is that a pretty normal treatment plan? I am not in a suburb so this lawn love stuff is alien to me. Here is a link that might be useful: strike 3 store with label

I have to backtrack a little and explain that when I planted the first set of trees, I was a COMPLETE newbie. I did not even have the soaker hose down at that point. I was watering them by hand about once a week thinking that would be enough. The soaker hose is that flat fabric kind and I've got two of them connected to a "Y" at the edge of my house...one length that goes down the side of the house is 25 feet, the other length goes toward the yard 50 feet. Together they make a 75 foot run and I read that a length under 100 feet should not be an issue where equal pressure is concerned...am I wrong? There is no "incline" along the length where the water ever has to go uphill, that is an optical illusion. From where the water enters the hose it only goes downhill slightly. I've been using this soaker hose all summer and it seems to do the job well, although I had to use it every day since I did not have time to put mulch down until this fall. I am thinking the reason the first batch died was from obvious lack of water before going into winter and then drying out by spring. Also not having mulch might have been a factor since we got down to -5 last winter. I have a hunch that the drying winds knocked out most of them, since my few survivors were the ones next to the house where they are somewhat protected. Which leads me to another question... What do you think of Wilt-Pruf? Could I prevent some dessication by using it? I was going to go with burlap but that is an awful lot that I would need to wrap...do these even need protection from wind if they get enough water before winter? I think in the spring I will move the one arb with the dead branch to the end of the line and replace it so I can keep the height I have going in that area (I need it there! I don't think want a window in my hedge..haha).