Summer PLUNGING of tender exotic plants to accelerate growth?
I'm in Kent and grow various tender plants including fruit trees such as lychees, sugar apples, citrus and avocados - all in containers. At the moment they are all juvenile plants. None are near fruiting stage. Every year when the weather warms, they are brought out and then in late autumn taken back into my conservatory.
But just the other day I had a thought - what if I plunged these into the ground over the summer?
When I say plunge, I mean leaving my plants in their pots, cutting holes on the sides of the pots, then literally plunging them into the ground outside when its warm enough. The idea would be that the roots could extend out and benefit from the better consistency in moisture and temperature and microorganisms found in the ground. Then when it starts getting cold, I could dig them up, cut the roots where they've extended out the pot - essentially root prune, and bring them back inside. And then repeat yearly.
Anyone have any idea whether doing the above would be beneficial at all to tender exotic plants? And if it would encourage growth? Obviously container grown plants never reach their full potential as they are constrained by the pot. But could plunging possibly offset that limitation and make any difference? My goal is to simply grow bigger, healthier and stronger plants.
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Why not take two identical plants , plunge/ root prune one and leave the other as you'd normally treat it?
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border