I recently repotted a few of my house plants using MG Moisture Control and using pots that have no holes for drainage. I'm pretty sure that the pots should have holes for drainage, but thought otherwise when I noticed most of the potting section had no holes and my first two plants that I bought over a year ago are potted in pots like these aswell. Also, is MG potting soil good? Or maybe which soil would you recommend instead?
MG is as good a potting soil as any ! Do your pots have a drip tray ? Never saw a pot that didn`t have either one except those that you have to poke your own holes in the bottom.
Ok Mart Thanks and yes most of my plants have drip trays but some do not because there is no holes in the pots. I think in terms of repoting I screwed up though. Are ornamental pots that have no holes supposed to have planters installed, so that the plant can be flushed to remove salts? My philo. has been potted in one of these pots for a little over a year with no problems, but I read somewhere that salt will build up in the soil without flushing.
You are correct about the ornamental pots (with no holes) being used with planters that have the drain holes. I'd recommend repotting that Philo. so the water can drain properly. And it's not just the salt build-up... you want to be sure your plant's roots are not just standing in water. As far as drainage and aeration... You can place some pebbles at the bottom of the pot and then fill with potting soil that has some Perlite mixed in.
Hey Thanks Cheryl, I'll grab some planters tonight and get to repoting. I was going to grab a bag of Perlite, but Schultz Orchid Mix was recommended instead and was less then half the cost of Perlite. The Orchid Mix has stuff like fur bark and a couple of different types of rock in it, I don't know any good? I have a bag of river rock around here somewhere, if I can find it do you think I could use that as a base? So much simpler when I had just two plants...lol moderator's note: corrected Chatspeak see point 3.2 of usage rules
Are you wanting to use the Orchid mix with the Philodendron? Or are you talking about a different plant? Just curious... what size pot are you going to be using? I've never used orchid mix except once a long time ago when I tried to save an orchid here in the office. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt being used... but just not positive if it would aid it with the aeration and drainage. Hopefully someone else will come along and give you a definitive answer about that. Regarding the river rock... is it small... say about the size of a dime or less? If so, I'd say yes they would work. Ahhh... the days of only fussing over a couple of plants!
Yes I was going to mix the two together and use it for all my plants. I have four plants to repot with sizes ranging from 4' to 6', two money plants, one spider plant and the philly. The rest of my plants are still in there original planters with catch trays underneath "NICE AND EASY". As for the river rock they're small polished little stones I bought for a waterfall I used to have years ago but never ended up using, just have to find them lol. I think I'll put down a base of river rock and then a thin layer of mixed soil over top then just put'r in and fill. Ya I think I'm a bit of a one plant man....what was I thinking!
Check the acid on that orchid mix. Might be a little much for some plants. Hope I am remembering right that orchids need the acid soils. I had some that was mostly lava rock. River rock is fine to put in the bottom of the pot to aid drainage. Spider plant, are you talking airplane plant ? It will do fine in the potting mix alone and would need no additional drainage, so save the rock on that one. As far as aeration of the soil I find it just as easy to take a large screwdriver and shove it into the soil and work it back and forth in a few places. That will loosen it and doesn`t hurt the plant. Once a month is fine and I just go between the plant and the pot about halfway. If the orchid mix has the lava rock it could also be used in the bottom for drainage.
What kind of Philo do you have, Raptor? This kind of plant happens to not have much sensitivity to tap water chemicals, perhaps due to its' ability to guttate, so is a coincidentally OK choice for a pot without a hole. However, it's likely an epiphyte, which are especially resentful of soggy roots. As long as the pot is not staying soggy and the plant looks fine, all is well. Something that makes aerial roots is also easy to cut off and re-root if it starts looking poorly. Quite different than trying to grow something woody in a pot without a hole. Sounds like you plan to change that to an inner, removable cache pot soon anyway. "Good drainage" does not just mean that water comes out of a pot. It must also include the characteristic of NOT being retentive of excess water AND having air pockets throughout. Soggy/muddy soil is most often the culprit for health issues that plants have. Or, more specifically, the damage such can do to roots when the condition is prolonged, without a chance for the roots to reach some air as well as moisture. A soil that is composed of mostly fine particles, like peat, can often be what is causing the difficulty. If the roots are healthy, or can be rehabilitated, and the light is sufficient, there's no reason not to expect any plant to recover its' health, assuming it doesn't have some kind of virus/fungus/disease/pest problem beyond the ability to treat. Heathy, vigorous plants are much more resistant to these maladies. When soil dries quickly (because it does not retain excess water, not just because it's too packed full of roots,) that is what is healthy for almost any house plants. Sitting in soggy soil is an unnatural state that usually/often causes roots to rot. When that happens, the roots are unable to deliver moisture and nutrients to the foliage. For a healthier plant, the soil should be chunky, porous, airy, not containing fine particles, like peat. Peat is not good stuff for plants. It holds water forever until suddenly it's so dry water just runs off of it without soaking in. A soil mix that is much more chunky, porous, airy is much easier to grow in without worrying about the problems that water-retentive, finely-particled stuff like peat can cause. When the soil dries quickly, which is good, you may find you are watering more often than before, when it was too much. Also, as temps go up, sun gets more intense, even more. When changing soil types/textures, keep a close eye on plants so you get the new hang of how it's going to go. You want to water as often as needed for some moisture to stay in the pot, and not have to worry about excess water messing things up. Very few plants actually want to go bone dry at any time. It's not about how much water you put on, it's about how much excess stays in the pot. That's what you're trying to avoid, as much as possible with your schedule and time available for plant caring. If it needs to be able to go for a week without water, a bigger pot is usually what I choose, not a more water-retentive mix. Moisture crystals do not hydrate instantly. Until they fully hydrate, possibly taking an entire day, they will use the moisture from the surrounding soil to do so. Their combined surface area, once fully hydrated, is a saturated moisture zone. When fully hydrated, they are much larger, so have compacted the soil and roots as much as necessary to take the space they need unless fully hydrated before mixing with soil (but that only affects the first hydration/dehydration cycle.) When mixed with saturated peat, plants that are especially sensitive to having no air available to the roots will be especially detrimentally affected. Until the surrounded soil has dried, the crystals will hold their moisture. The roots will seek the surface area of the crystals which are much more reluctant to release moisture than they are to absorb it, likely not as quickly as the roots need that moisture if it has become the only source. So now, the soil is dry, the roots still can't reach much air, and the moisture crystals are still making the pot heavy so you think it's not time to water yet. As the crystals shrink, the roots will grow into the spaces left behind. When the crystals are expanded, the moisture absorbing root tips that get smushed can be damaged. I do think they are fun for plants/cuttings that are temporarily in water. Much more interesting! I've tried all kinds of different things, from vermiculite, perlite, mulch, rough homemade compost, bark chips. Doesn't seem to matter as much what is in the pot, as much as the texture/airiness of it (unless you make/buy a mix that has PH issues unsuitable for a particular plant.) A ready mix called by the name of a particular plant can be fine for plenty of other plants. If I were going to use something straight from a bag at a store, I would look at these - orchid, cactus, AV mixes. Although it is possible to grow perfectly fine plants in bagged peaty mixes, it's much easier not to, and my plants quit dying when I changed this. Not that no plant ever dies here, just that it's quite rare instead of fairly regularly now, because it doesn't happen from "overwatering."
Thank you for your input guys, the black stuff in the pot is starting to make sense! I have an elephant ear philodendren that I've had in a 6" pot for about a year. When I took it out of it's original pot, the roots looked good but had a bit of a bad smell, I'm guessing from not having any drainage. I noticed that the root ball was tightly compact and hard, so hard in fact I probably could have hit a home run with it. " GOOD THING I JUST BOUGHT A 6" PLANTER AND ORNAMENTAL POT FOR IT" So I repotted it into a 8" planter using MG/Orchid Mix with about two inches of solid orchid mix in the bottom of the pot. Threw her in the pot and gave it a thorough flushing as it hasn't been flushed in over a year. As for the MG plant mix, it is a peat based mix which isn't good? I mixed probably 50/50 ratio with orchid mix, should be a good addition to the peat or not use peat at all?
Raptor, I quit using any kind of peat about 10 years ago, and at this point I make my potting soil organically with a lot of home made compost, mulch, whatever I have around that will be OK to dump in a flower/veggie bed when I repot again later. If using stuff bought from a store, I'm not the best one to ask but can assure you that if a bag just says "potting soil" it's probably mostly peat and not something I would recommend to anyone for any plant, if there's a choice. It's not like that stuff will definitely or instantly kill a plant. It's just so much harder to not kill them if they're in this kind of soil because they can be so easily drowned/suffocated. You may want to search for recipes called "gritty mix" and "5-1-1 mix" which are created by my friend, Al. You may decide to follow a recipe exactly, or be inspired to make your own variation. Although he and I use vastly different "stuff" in pots, there is complete agreement about the texture being the key factor in successful results.
I would just mix the potting soil with good old dirt if you have a yard. That will make the potting soil retain water more evenly. Excess will be drained into the rock mixture below. Just don`t over water the plants.
Thank you again Purple, of all the members chill'n on the stew you help me the most my friend I looked through all the plant mixes at my local garden center and they are all actually peat based mixes, as for drainage and aeration they have bags of perlite, vermiculite and this orchid mix I bought and they just told me to mix the two to lighten the soil. I don't know where I will find a non peat based mixed as all the hardcore greenhouses in my city are shutdown for the winter. I'll follow up on the gritty mix and 511 mix and thanks again for your insight :-D
Hey ya Mart, I would say my plants get less water then they actually need as I don't like to spend to much time on them. My backyard is under 3 feet of snow so maybe I'll hold off on using dirt until spring but if it works I'm all for it.
