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The Superoots
Air-Pot is now widely accepted as the only container that
actively enhances the quality of the root systems of plants,
(and consequently their overall health and viability). The
best growers and discerning specifiers in the UK, Europe
and the USA agree that the Air-Pot produces a root system
of unparalleled quality and promotes rapid re-establishment
in the landscape.
Container
growing has become increasingly prevalent in plant production,
on account of the convenience and flexibility it affords
nurseries and the landscape trade. It is well documented,
however, that container growing inevitably means that the
quality of the root system is compromised. Typically, black
bags or pots force lateral roots to spiral and white bags
force lateral roots down the side wall. Similar deformities
have been observed in every type of container, including
Accelerator pots, chemically treated pots and Pot-in-Pot
systems. Every container except the Air-Pot.
The
continuous air pruning by the Air-Pot eliminates all root
circling and generates a dense rootball, with outward pointing
fibrous roots, which ensures almost instant re-establishment
on transplanting. Negligence can of course kill even the
best quality plants, but good growers and landscapers have
found that they are suffering no losses with Air-Pot grown
stock.
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Mike
Smith of Macgregor Smith, Landscape Architects, comments:
"For
out of season planting, all the semi-mature trees
I have used for recent projects, including Milton
Park, in Oxfordshire and Greenside in Edinburgh have
been Air-Pot trees and the quality of the root systems
has been superb. I have also been very pleased with
the simplicity of the system and the cost, and look
forward to specifying smaller trees and shrubs of
similar quality in Air-Pots for upcoming projects."
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Hillier
Nurseries have been using the Air-Pot at its
Broadmead Container Unit since the Caledonian Tree
Company first imported the system from Australia in
1994. The nursery also uses white bags as well as
black bags and rigid containers, making nursery manager,
Martin Hillier, particularly well qualified to compare
production methods.
"The
white easylift bag and black pot have their pros and
cons: the handles on the white bag make it easy to
carry, but the rooting around is very slow; the compost
in the black pot warms up quickly in spring, giving
good early root growth, but there is the inevitable
root circling.However,
there are no such problems with the Air-Pot. It produces
a superb root system for transplanting. The continual
pruning the roots receive in the airpot produces a
mass of fibre with all the root tips facing outwards
ready to burst into their new planting medium."
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Deepdale
Trees uses Air-Pots exclusively at its nursery in Bedfordshire
and is currently supplying some of the most prestigious
landscape projects in Britain. Director, Peter Middlicott
says, "Our customers demand the best quality for
high profile projects such as Milton Park. The Air-Pot
does not compromise on quality and enhances all the
types of stock we grow on in the system. We dispatch
the trees in hessian and wire, with no packaging waste."
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Paul
Masters, Production Director at Notcutts Nurseries set
up a specialist container unit in 2000 and researched
all the available production methods before opting for
the Superoots Air-Pot. "I first saw Air-Pots being
used in big numbers at Cherrylake Tree Farms in Florida,
where we also looked at pot-in-pot, the accelerator
pot and rigid containers. There is no doubt that the
Air-Pot produces the most fibrous root system for successful
transplanting, even with coarse rooted subjects such
as Crataegus."
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Trees
and shrubs that have been containerised in the Air-Pot
are in place at some of the most prestigious landscape
projects in the UK, including several Private Gardens,
which have recently been installed by Willerby Landscapes.
Managing Director, Graham Larby comments: "In the
past, the quality of stock we demand was only available
rootballed, which precluded any summer planting. Now
with the Air-Pot, we can have the flexibility of container
stock and even better quality."
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The Air-Pot has set the benchmark for quality in the semi-mature
tree market - in containers of 80 litre up to 5000 litre.
Such is the quality of the root system, however, that demand
is increasing for the same quality in smaller sizes. In the
next two years Air-Pot grown stock in 12.5, 20, 30 and 45
litre sizes is going to be highly visible in the market place.
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