Hi,
I have recently purchased a number of lilly pillies and placed them in some very large pots around the house. I live in North Queensland and the plants get full sun for about half the day due to the different sides of the house the plants are located (East, West and North). The plants are all established (bought that way) and are about 1.5 metres tall.
The soil they are planted in is a lose loam with small rocks on top (to aid water retention). I use seasol and a slow release fertilzer and the pots (square and rectangular) have holes in the bottom for drainage.
I have already trimmed them once and do tip pruning. The plants are yet to flower and are responding well to the light pruning. I have put in confidor pellets for pests but have had scale and black soot which I am treating with confidor spray and white oil. I intend on keeping them in the pots so I was wondering how often should I water the plants as a guide?.
At the present I water deeply once every three to four days but it gets hot in summer here. I have heard that you can overwater lilly pilly's but I know pots dry out faster.
Also will keeping the lilly pillys in pots effect thier roots, growth and could they split the pots (cement over fibreglass)?.
Thanks
Hello Max, Deep watering every two to three days is good but in the hot weather I'd still be giving them a wetting everyday (in the cool of the early morning is best).
Plants in pots are very susceptible to overheating, especially if they are dark coloured pots exposed directly to the sun.
My preference is to shade the pots with something loose like a hessian or shadecloth sleeve but in most cases the look is as important as the functionality of a pot so this kind of approach tends to lose the aesthetic test even though it works practically very well.
Take the temperature of the soil when its been in direct sun for a while and ask yourself if you'd enjoy having your feet in there. Its as simple as that - comfy for humans is comfy to plants as well.