Gardening on Cloud 9 » Containers

Drilling Drainage Holes by Ourselves

Sandy — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:40:38 +0000

We know that good drainage is the key to healthy plants, but the containers that we find most attractive are often the ones without drainage holes. But we can drill the drainage holes by ourselves, and it is much easier than what most of us would expect. All we need is an electric drill and steady hands.

And here, let me show you how to drill holes on our containers.

Place a Wet Cloth on a Hard Level Surface

While some would suggest you to place a thick piece of cardboard between the hard level surface and the container, I would recommend a piece of wet cloth instead. The wet cloth can keep your pot from sliding.

Turn your pot upside down and place it on the wet cloth.

Mark Your Targets

Use a nail to make a little ding at where you want to drill the hole to prevent the bit from slipping and nicking the pot when you are drilling the hole. While it is relatively easy to make a ding on pots that are made of terra-cotta, wood, metal, and such, it is more difficult to do the same on ceramic or glass pot. In this case, I would just mark the target with a marker.

Choose the Right Drill Bit

It is very important to choose the right drill bit for you will likely to crack your pot if you use a wrong one. For glass and ceramic pots, I use the drill bit that is shown in the photo above. I don’t know what it is called or if it is especially designed for glass and ceramic, but it works wonders with my glass and ceramic pots.

Drill the Hole

Place the bit into the nick you have made. Make sure the drill bit is straight up and down. Press down lightly on the drill and then drill through the container in a steady motion. To prevent your drill bit from slipping around, you can first drill a shallow “lead hole” with a smaller drill bit, then, drill all the way through with the bigger one.

For Ceramic/Glass Pots – Add Water

Ceramic and glass pots are relatively easy to crack. To prevent this from happening, we must sprinkle the area where we are drilling with cold water, so to keep the temperature down. In addition, instead of drilling through the container in one single motion, I would suggest you to break it up into several times, so to keep the spot from getting too hot and cracking.

So this is how I drill drainage holes on my containers. Give it a try. It is probably easier that what you think. And once you have mastered the skills, you will have so many more options for your garden containers!

Containers for Houseplants – Size Matters!

Sandy — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:37:00 +0000

When we pot our plant for the first time after getting it from a garden nursery, or repot our houseplant when it has outgrown its container, we have to choose a new container with the right size for our plant.

Using Garden Containers Too Big

When a houseplant gets too large for its container, its roots will start circling around inside the container, and restricting themselves. If our houseplants appear to dry out more quickly than they used to, but are otherwise healthy, the plants are probably pot bound. There are simply too many roots in the container and not enough soil is left to hold and distribute water to the plants.

To fix this problem, simply repot our houseplant into a container an inch or two larger. When choosing a garden container, think about what is good for the plant. Don’t try to save ourselves some work by planting our houseplant in a container too large. The extra soil may keep staying too wet and can smother the roots and lead to root rot.

Using Garden Containers Too Small

On the other hand, a garden container that is too small crowds roots, and cuts down the ability of the soil to provide moisture, oxygen, and nutrients that are vital for healthy growth.

Outdoor container plants, especially rapidly growing ones such as summer flowering annuals, need adequate space for root development. Small containers restrict root growth, which causes limited top growth. The end result is fewer flowers. And plants with deep-running roots, such as tomatoes, require a container that is much deeper.

So, before we pot our plants, we should do some research and learn more about our plants to ensure that we are using an appropriately sized container for the plants we are growing.

My African Violet Doesn’t Like Its Big House

Sandy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:22:56 +0000

Ok! Here is a lesson that I have learned recently – Don’t try to save ourselves some work by planting our houseplant in a container too large, for we could damage or even kill our plants!

I have bought a little Ness Fantasy Gold (Saintpaulia) in October last year. Once after I brought my African violet home, I repotted the houseplant into a bigger container and watered it whenever the surface of the soil feels dry.

Yet, despite of my constant care, my African violet has never grown at all in this half a year! In fact, instead of growing bigger and stronger, my African violet is getting weaker, with discolored, yellowish leaves that, at some point, may droop and die young

After some researches online and getting advices from other gardeners, I have learned that the big container of my plant may be the root cause of this problem. Originally, I thought that a garden container too large wouldn’t hurt. Since I would need to repot my houseplant later anyways, I could just pot my African violet into a larger container now and save myself some work later. Wrong thinking!

Lesson Learned

Only now I have learned the importance of the size of garden containers. A container too big will lead to rotten roots. The extra soil in the big container will keep staying wet all the time, causing rotten roots in the plant.

I have just repotted my Ness Fantasy Gold into a smaller container – a much, much smaller one.

It is actually quite embarrassing when I put the two containers side-by-side, showing how silly I was using such an oversize container for my little African violet…

Hope my little African violet will survive. I am crossing my fingers now

Related Post:Why My African Violet Isn’t Growing Much?
I once guessed that it might be a problem of overwatering. I got part of it right. But I missed the key factor – the size of the garden container – the reason why the soil had been kept wet all the time.