Holes.

I am just curious what most people do to the holes at the bottom of the gardening pots. Tell me your experience and share what is the best method for you.



My very first attempt at container gardening I used small stones to block the holes to make sure that the earth do not get washed out. I did this because I observed my mum doing it.

As time pass, I realised that looking for the right size stones is difficult and sometimes trying to force the stone into the hole is a bit of a problem. Scrubbies was my next choice because it is easily available from the kitchen after they are at their end life.

Using end life scrubbies got other problems because I have to pack them into the holes and doing this make the water difficult to drain when it is pack too tight. The holes are for draining right!

Then when we moved to our new place and got the windows screened to prevent the mosquitoes from coming in to have a feast while we were asleep. Mosquito screens was my new choice for the holes. It works well until I run out of decent size netting recently.

Now I am using paper and I think this is the best choice, When filling up the pot with earth, the paper will prevent the earth from coming out of the holes. The paper is porous and water can escape. Over a short time the paper will compost and leave the hole exposed and the soil around the area should be compact enough to be drained at each watering.

Yes I guess paper is the best way to go.

 

I use old scrunched up plastic 6 packs that starts come for big pots. For smaller pots I use clay feet to get them slightly off the ground to drain well. I only use commercial potting mixes that are light to avoid water logged pots. Haven’t found to have much of a problem with soil falling out of pots once planted. Drainage is the most important factor for my circumstances.

 

I don't put any stones in the bottom of pots. I don't have problems with soil falling out.

I should add that I do use a commercial potting mix.

 

GreetingsKK— I use a layer of broken stone-pot shards (crocks). They are slightly curved, and so I place them concave side down, so as to not block the holes. A thin layer of sand on top of that. My idea is to not block the holes so there can be some drainage, albeit impeded.

To be far, I only use containers for hose plants these days and I am aware that there are different opinions to mine on this. Perhaps I am a bit old-fashioned on this subject, but it does work for me.

 

I don’t use anything in the bottom of my planters. It’s a preference point.

 

Thank you all for sharing, looks like trying to contain the earth in a pot is a universal thing.

 

I have used pot shards for years, but have noticed that depending on the potting mix, sometimes they block drainage. I tried coffee filters and like the results

 

I use paper coffee filters.

 

Coffee filters is a good choice especially the used one.