Posted on 12/13/2013 12:25:11 PM PST by greeneyes
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I’m reading on the web and it appears I need screen in the bottom to keep soil from going outside the container and then rocks on top of that to keep soil from clogging up the drainage. If I had screen and I’m not positive I don’t, will have to look, I have marbles that were used for decorating and they are just in the way now, so could use those. They are too small to use without the screen keeping them from going through the holes.
Rats, why does this have to be more complicated than putting in soil and plant? Rats.
Oh, the marbles are a great idea.
My mom had houseplants and used to cover the top of the soil with the ‘pretty pretty’ aquarium rocks (you know, the rounded ones in ‘decorator colors’) to keep the cats from digging in them.
“According to latest advice, this is NOT necessary.”
What about a compromise? I checked the storage room and there is no screen. What I do have is bunches of netting I use over plants but I have gobs extra. What if I folded that net over and over and over until it is a globbed mess and put that in the bottom, then dump some of those marbles I mentioned, over the net.
rightly, would that do it?
I use the chards of broken clay pots for drainage.
You can get bags of rocks at Lowes. If you can water the correct amount, drainage is not a big issue, but if you like to water heavily like I do, especially with established plants that may be rootbound, the rocks are a good policy.
Anytime I start a container, I fill the bottom 1/3 with rocks. Then when my drip irrigation comes on, no concerns about drowning, It can run and run. With plenty of drainage, only the soil is holding water, not the container.
YMMV
Great capture!
As spring turns into summer, the Gartenmeister is only an *attractant* for the hummmies. Once they are *here*, and summer is established the lazy little buggers prefer the nectar tubes than the *work* needed to get at the natural nectar in the fuschia blossoms. :)
My wife feeds the birds and squirrels 25-30lb of seed per week, but the hummers keep her hopping, sometimes filling it twice a day.
Maybe for drainage? I always stick rocks in the bottoms of my containers because I tend to drown plants. Alternatively, I’ll take two matching containers with drainage holes in the bottom, put some jars or other objects of similar depth upside-down in the first container and stick the matching container on top of whatever you stuck in the first container to elevate the bottom of it for drainage. Usually, I put some sort of porous landscaping fabric in the bottom of the upper container so that the soil doesn’t wash through the drainage holes. Then I plunk the plant in with the soil. Is this clear? Anyway, I don’t know what I’m doing so you should listen to someone else. :)
I’M NOT DOING ROCKS - ROCKS ARE HEAVY AND I CAN’T CARRY HEAVY CRAP!
I’m serious - I can’t carry heavy stuff and I move my containers around when I have to. Putting rocks to make something heavier is nuts. A better way is out there that it says is better than rocks and I just cut this thick material make of something, and lay it in there - now, I have to find it in a smaller amount to I can afford it - looking at Mega Store right now to see if they have it. Will give details when I find it.
ROCKS ARE TOO HEAVY.
/johnny
You might try packing “peanuts”.
Well, you did ask. :)
I was thinking the same thing as long as they aren't the biodegradable ones. I saw a Martha Stewart Living episode years ago, where she used packing peanuts in the bottom of her pots for drainage.
I hate them, so using them for something rather than just throwing them out makes me feel better. Take that, packing peanuts! :)
That figures. Wherever you go, Martha Stewart has already been there, perfected the process and moved on.
I had already considered volcanic rock and read about it and water (pumice is also volcanic rock). Volcanic rock has holes in it and water collects in the holes. The objective of rocks in a planter is that water flows over/around them and drains (not into them and some stays inside). I dumped volcanic rock due to that. And, the only pumice I saw anyway was ground to dust to be added to the soil to help hold moisture.
Sooo, I'm looking for a cheap bag of plastic peanuts to get at Walmart because I have some light bulbs there waiting for me to pick them up - guess what, I haven't found any yet at Walmart, I did find some that are BIODEGRABLE - rats, when I want something that won't degrade, that's the time the stores pick to be “GREEN”.
Right now, I have three different types of big empty containers all around here where my chair is. I have to pop some more holes out in 5 great big green ones. Guess I didn't see but one hole in them the first time I did that, but there are more and they aren't easy to get out. Hammer and large screw driver work the best.
I'll finish looking at Walmart for the peanuts that never die and tell you if I find them. If not there, maybe they are at Lowes but that's another stop although it's on the same enormous slab of concrete as Walmart and Sams.
I have to do this tomorrow to get those blackberry plants in their house.
Try Office Max or FEDEX type shipping places to get peanuts, but beware the prices. LOwes may have in the packing dept.
I think I have some, but not sure if they’re Green or not.
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