Hardy Tropicals UK

I remember seeing a link for some giant pot's?, has anyone got the link please as I want a couple for some vivax boo's. Thanks karl.

Thanks arlon, ive just joined there site & ordered a 160ltre pot with handles, this is there biggest size with handles & should contain a big vivax for a few years!!. karl.

karl66 wrote:Thanks arlon, ive just joined there site & ordered a 160ltre pot with handles, this is there biggest size with handles & should contain a big vivax for a few years!!. karl.

As someone who has had a vivax in a big pot for over 4 years I would say don't do it! Plant it in the ground instead. In a pot it will never grow huge and need loads of feed to keep it looking good and daily watering.

If you do plant in this pot sit it in a tray of water as like kris says it will suffer.

Thanks for bringing it up though as I need to repot my tree ferns into larger tubs. Not sure how I will move them though.

Kris, every single one of my other boo's are planted out, I will be breaking a habit by planting this in giant pot!!. The reason is that my front drive is blocked with cobbles & I just know that in a few years when settled it will go walkies , I don't fancy vivax in my front lounge! or even pushing through the existing cobbles!, I've seen this beast in full flow & it would take some stopping even with root pruning.karl.

Ok but it's really not suitable long term.

karl66 wrote:The reason is that my front drive is blocked with cobbles & I just know that in a few years when settled it will go walkies , I don't fancy vivax in my front lounge!

I'm facing the same conundrum. I propped 6 pots of vivax this season from runners given to me last year. I wanted to plant it as a screening but worried it will go walkabout..............or should that be "runabout"

Moats are the way to go with these big boos, just have a trench around the area its allowed in, you can see instantly if it tries to wander and saw the runners off, I made the mistake of putting one of my vivax aureocaulis clumps (I have 3) in a bed made from 4" concrete blocks and it has destroyed that in just 3 years, not only pushing the blocks apart but also punching through the blocks in one place. I now rely on my trusty Mattock to keep things under control

Charlie, ive heard about the moat idea before & it sounds good, what is the best material to fill the moat with for easy access to the runners?. karl.

karl66 wrote:Charlie, ive heard about the moat idea before & it sounds good, what is the best material to fill the moat with for easy access to the runners?. karl.

fresh air I think mate..

I imagine something like woodchip's would be ideal?. karl.

this is how it should be done (hard work):

http://www.bamboogarden.com/barrier%20installation.htm

karl66 wrote:I imagine something like woodchip's would be ideal?. karl.

Sounds good to me. I've only seen it done once and the guy had dug a deep trench around his boo at the width he wanted it to spread to, the moat was about 8" wide and was empty, just had leaf litter from the bamboo.
Bark would be good as you could scoop it out easy.

karl66 wrote:Charlie, ive heard about the moat idea before & it sounds good, what is the best material to fill the moat with for easy access to the runners?. karl.

Fresh air works for me too! It normally fills up with leaves and stuff and I clear it each year, so far the Boos have shown no interest in venturing into the void, presumably because its drier. Most of my big clumps are far enough back I can't see the trench