Drainage for plants is essential; however, irrigation is one of the most complicated tasks, so flooding is not uncommon. But this has easy fix How am I going to tell you now?
You only need a few materials so that the roots can do their job wonderfully well. Write down these tips to improve the drainage of your pots.
Ceramic pots, as well as porcelain ones, are a real wonder. In them, any plant looks good, and not only that, but it also decorates the room. But they have a problem: either they have only one hole for the water to come out, or they have none. If you want to plant aquatic plants this is appreciated, but if you choose to grow other types of plant life in them ... drainage needs to be improved.
Pots without holes for drainage
This type of pots are ideal for those plants that need to have a permanently flooded substrate. In the event that you want to put other plants, the ideal would be to make a hole in them, but of course, since they are made with a fragile material, not a highly recommended option. So, what to do?
Put a thick layer - about 5 or 10 cm - of any of these substrates: perlite, volcanic clay, river sand. Later, you just have to fill the pot with a porous substrate, composed for example with 60% perlite and 40% peat.
Pots with only one hole (or with too many and large)
These are the most common. Whether made of plastic or ceramic, a pot that has only one hole or that has several large ones… it doesn't help much to allow the water to drain well. In these cases I recommend you put a piece of plastic mesh or wire mesh (with very small holes) inside the pot. This way, the substrate will last longer and you won't have to transplant as often.
To further improve drainage, it is also advisable to use a porous substrate, but adding more peat. A good mix would be 70% black peat, 20% perlite, and 10% worm castings.
With these tips, your plants will grow wonderfully 🙂. Do you know other methods to improve drainage?
I am suffering a lot with my indoor plants. I do not have much experience and I have checked two beautiful pots of those without holes and with a 'meter' of humidity, yes, those that do not work at all. Well ... I am not able to keep a living plant there. Ferns could somehow survive?
Hello Deygris.
The first thing I recommend is that you get hold of pots with holes. The roots of the plants do not support direct or permanent contact with water (unless they are aquatic, of course). The pots without holes are very nice, but nothing more; plants are useless.
If you like ferns, there is one that is almost almost off-road, the nephrolepsis. It is widely used as an indoor plant, since it only needs two weekly waterings in summer and one (or two, depending on how hot it is) every 7 days the rest of the year. Anyway, here you have many other plants suitable for beginners.
If you have any questions ask. All the best.
Hello, my plants are not well, I do everything for them and I don't know what's wrong with them. Its roots are not as they should be, I have a "dollar" for example that does not remove anything from the roots and it seems that it is about to dry out and so it happens with several and I think it is due to a drainage problem because I have seen that the ground is wet and underneath is all dry and hard. Could it be because of the water too? Because I live in an area where the water has a lot of chlorine. Thank you and I await your answer.
Hi nicole.
Put the pot in a basin with water, so the entire substrate will be moistened.
A greeting.