<blockquote>A discussion about maintaining trees in containers over the long term</blockquote>
via <a href="http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0417334631829.html?99">Trees in Containers III - Container Gardening Forum - GardenWeb</a>.
<blockquote>It's not much of a secret to many, that a good part of what I've learned about plants and plant-related science has come as an outgrowth of my pursuit of at least some degree of proficiency at bonsai. Please, make no mistake, the principles applied to containerized trees under <strong>bonsai culture can, and in most cases SHOULD be applied to all containerized trees grown for the long term</strong>. Because of the small volumes of soil and small containers these trees are grown in, you might look at bonsai as a form of container culture taken to another level. Before most of the plants I grow become bonsai, they often undergo many years of preparation and manipulation while still in the same size containers you are growing in, so while I am intimately familiar with growing plants in bonsai culture, it would have been impossible for me to arrive at that familiarity w/o an even more thorough understanding of growing woody plants in larger, pre-bonsai size containers like you grow in. This thread is a continuation of one I previously posted on the same topic.</blockquote>