Giants in Barrels or spinout bags?

13 years ago

Hi all,

I have a large dreaded silver maple under which nothing will grow. It is a big blank space in my garden. I would love to utilize this space to grow some very large hostas. I realize I cannot plant directly in the ground or the maple roots will kill the hostas. As far as I can figure I have 2 options.

One is using spin-out bags. I am a little reluctant to do this. I am wondering if these would be large enough to accomodate a very large mature hosta like empress wu, t-rex, sum& substance and its sports? To be honest if they are large enough to accomodate a mature giant hosta I am not excited about the prospect of digging a hole that big among the maple roots. Heck, I am not sure I could actually do it.

The other option would be to plant them in 1/2 barrels. This would be much easier on the front end but I wonder if this will work long term. I would grow the hostas in containers in a sunny-ish location for a few years so they could get some meat on their bones. I would then plant them in barrels. I live in NC so overwintering will not be a problem as long as I cover them. My concern is that I would need to change out the potting soil every 2-3 years. Does anyone really do this with a mature very large plants? Also, wouln't constantly uprooting/replanting stunt the plant's growth? Can a hosta live in the same container for years without messing with it?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated, especially from folks who have succeeded or failed with either of these.

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Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
wood barrels will rot .. you might want to go with plastic pots ...

i seem to think.. some OH friend.. TRYING to grow under norways... has given up even on the bags ...

presuming the maple cant be gotten rid of... i like the pot idea ...

babes do not go in huge pots ... try pot in pot as they grow ... start collecting your 10 or 20 gallon pots.. but start the babes in one gal.. and sink them in the large pots .... does that make any sense???

i THINK the link says 20 gal 10 per bundle $50.49 .. call them and check it out ... even with shipping thats probably a lot less than barrels ...

ken

ps: you will even have to periodically move the pots.. as the maples will grow roots UP INTO THE POTS ... god i hate maples ...

Here is a link that might be useful: lol.. check out the first comment ...
hosta_freak
13 years ago
Coral,you don't have to cover half barrels in NC. I am in western NC,and I grow some plants in half barrels. Some have been in the same barrels for 5 years. I would go for putting large plants in half barrels;just be sure to drill lots of drainage holes in the bottom. There are ever plastic barrels that look a lot like the wooden ones. What I did with the wooden half barrels,was staple hardware cloth over the holes you drill in the bottom,before you add soil to them,so critters can't burrow up from the bottom. Also,don't fill the entire barrel with soil,add rocks or other inert material at the bottom. That way,you dont have to put in so much planting medium. Phil
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Over the last few years I've moved quite a few hostas into the bags. As usual I'm making mistakes and learning as I go. The bags do repel the roots but in my opinion they are shaped wrong and too small. The large size seem like they could hold a large but not an extra large. The plants that have been in my woods for several years and are being strangled have grown wide and shallow. I guess they could be forced to head down? Don't know about that but they seem to want to spread. Last year in order to accomodate a few struggling large plants Faye and I cut some of the large bags, she sewed half of another large bag to it and made what appears below. The regular large is on the right, the larger more shallow one is on the left. That size worked better for me since I can not dig down that much where these plants are. When I ran out of the ones she's made I did a few with just a flat piece of the fabric, raised at the edges with large branches, logs or whatever to create a bowl effect. I now realize my mistake about that. I wrapped the fabric over the log to anchor it and thought that was just fine. The other day I dug out a hosta in a medium sized bag in order to move it to more sun. Since when I originally planted it it was too tall I didn't cut the top off I folded it over. That left the inside part outside, see below. Although the roots won't grow into the dark side they sure will grow into the inside part of the fabric and head over the top and continue to try to choke the life out of the plant. I have a lot of fixing to do. The bags I've gotten have been ordered in the states and picked up when I'm down there. Someone posted the shipping charge in Canada from somewhere in Ontario to somewhere else in Ontario and it basically doubled the cost. I wish landscape fabric worked but it doesn't. So...now that I'm unhappy with the shape of the bags I'm trying something else. I had a package of 25 medium (read small) bags that I hadn't used. They look to me like they'd hold something the size of a tiara. I've cut them all open, glued two together to make a square and cut the bottom off of various sizes of plastic pots, storage containers, a broken water softener and an old hot water heater (for the largest size). I figure I only need the fabric on the bottom. The sides of the pots will repel the roots. I'm gluing the fabric on and holding it there overnight with duct tape. I'm making them shallow in order to fit in the garden. I'll let you know how it works out.
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I've been working on a huge spin-out project this year. Planting new and digging up and re-planting many hosta under maple trees in the spin-out bags. I put the giant and XL ones in the 10 gallon size, some large-medium in 5 gallon bags and small in the 3 gallon bags. I, also, noticed that the bags are much deeper than necessary. I just dug the hole as deep as I felt necessary and cut everything off above the soil line, leaving about an inch above the soil line. I'm finding that I kind of like that inch or so because when I water, the bag is acting as a reservoir and the water doesn't run off. I know that each hosta is getting an inch or so of water each time I water...lol I added mulch to the bed around each bag sticking up so the tops of the bags aren't even noticable. Time will tell if the project is successful. So far everything looks good. But, too early to tell if I've conquered the maple root problems. I hope so! I have three more new ones to plant and probably won't dig up any more until next year.
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coralb
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi Phil,

You have been my unofficial hosta mentor for a while since you are also in NC (though I suspect you are in the mountains and I am in the piedmont). I have seen the plastic barrels and planned on using them. Good to know I need more drainage holes and need to cover them to keep the critters out.

It sounds like you have been succesful doing this and do not need to change out the soil. I had read on the container gardening forum that potting soil becomes spent and compressed after a number of years and this is why you need to repot even if the plant is appropriate size for the pot. It is good to hear that your plants are still thriving even though you do not do this.
wildflower59
13 years ago
Because of a huge vole problem, growing in pots has become a way of life...I use the big plastic pots (like trees come in) inside my 1/2 barrels...this has worked really well for me. Here we have wet winters and I find that a good mixture of shredded mulch and soil work best. Planting in the plastic then putting in barrels is also good for removing to keep the barrel free of pesty bugs (I do sprinkle a bug killer around the outside of the plastic between the barrel). I also have a few barrels that are full of mulch...and I double black pot in the barrels. My squash casserole is in a I believe a 2 gallon black pots place in the top of the barrel. Just give it a couple of turns throughout the season and it is great.
hosta_freak
13 years ago
Coral,one more thing. I have my half barrels slightly off the ground,so it doesn't sit right on the ground to prevent rot. I even saw plastic liners that go inside the barrels,so soil does'nt directly contact the wood. The only problem with half barrels,is once you have them positioned.they are impossible to move to another location. If you look at the pic of my garden,you will see one of my barrels,with Pizzazz planted in it. It will fill the entire barrel when it becomes completely leafed out. Phil
in ny zone5
13 years ago
I do similar to Phil. I am in zone 5a though. After two half oak barrels rotted away, I placed the new half (wood) barrels on patio blocks, then placed sturdy black plastic garbage bags with drain holes inside, actually stapled the upper part inside to the barrel, so far so good. I grow hardy hydrangeas in those barrels, use mostly top soil with some compost amendment. Any soil accumulating on the patio blocks I regularly brush away, have no critters in it.
Bernd
Steve Massachusetts
13 years ago
I found this thread from last year on root competition from trees. It includes a great post by Don R, that is part of his presentation on this subject. I learned a great deal from that Don.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Don Rawson's

Giants in Barrels or spinout bags?

Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

hosta_freak

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coralb
Original Author

wildflower59

hosta_freak

in ny zone5

Steve Massachusetts

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Giants in Barrels or spinout bags?

Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

hosta_freak

Related Discussions

coralbOriginal Author

wildflower59

hosta_freak

in ny zone5

Steve Massachusetts

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

coralb
Original Author