When it comes to ensuring your plants thrive, it’s important to provide them with the best start. Adding clever drainage to your planters will help keep them healthy and live longer. In this handy guide, we share tips on what to put in the bottom of a planter for drainage.
What type of planters are best?
If you are shopping for new outside planters, always look for those that already have drainage holes. Drainage holes allow excess water to drain away and so prevents the roots of your plants from rotting. But, if your favourite planter designs don’t come with drainage holes, you can always drill their base several times with a masonry drill bit yourself.
There’s thousands of attractive and practical planters available to choose from, whether you have a traditional or a more contemporary outside space. Plus, with so many different planter materials available, from wood to zinc and from stone to Poly-Terrazzo, you really are spoiled for choice.
NB Always remember to consider the size and growing potential of your favourite plants to be potted before you purchase.
What do you line the bottom of a planter with?
One of the best things to put at the bottom of a planter for drainage is broken pieces of pot. You can use any unwanted plant pots or chipped crockery for this – simply smash them up into small to medium-sized pieces. Adding a layer of broken pieces of pot like this will prevent compost loss out of the drainage holes. It will also stop the drainage holes from becoming blocked.
If you have small planters to fill, try lining their bases with old newspaper instead. The newspaper will allow excess water to drain freely away through the drainage holes, but prevent the compost from being flushed out.For outdoor planters that will be kept outside throughout the year, it’s worth lining them with a plastic liner. Pond liners work well for lining the bottom of a planter. Simply push the liner into the base of the planter and cut drainage holes in the bottom using household or gardening scissors.Handheld gardening tools in a pinch. Fill your planter with compost and then trim away any excess liner from the top.
What can I add to potting soil to make it drain better?
There are several things you can do to help improve your potting soil. Soil amendments such as perlite, mulch and sand will all help to prevent your potting compost and fertiliser from becoming too compacted inside your planters.
Coco Coir is a great option for adding extra drainage to your soil mix. Peat free and made from coconut husks, this environmentally friendly compost contains perlite and volcanic glass which will help make your soil much more porous. Perfect for improving their drainage and for keeping your plants happy.
Nicola Clements has been working with brands and publications in the gardening and lifestyle sectors for many years. As well as regularly writing for The English Garden‘s website, Nicola is also a contributing gardening editor to Wildflower magazine. In her spare time, Nicola can be found pottering in her garden, where she hones her skills, ready to pass on her expert advice to amateur and seasoned gardeners.
One of the best things to put at the bottom of a planter for drainage is broken pieces of pot. You can use any unwanted plant pots or chipped crockery for this – simply smash them up into small to medium-sized pieces. Adding a layer of broken pieces of pot like this will prevent compost loss out of the drainage holes.
One of the best things to put at the bottom of a planter for drainage is broken pieces of pot. You can use any unwanted plant pots or chipped crockery for this – simply smash them up into small to medium-sized pieces. Adding a layer of broken pieces of pot like this will prevent compost loss out of the drainage holes.
You can also boost a potted plant's airflow and water drainage by adding different materials and aggregates to the potting soil. Materials like perlite, coarse sand, clay aggregates, vermiculite, and compost can all improve the structure of your plants' soil and prevent them from becoming too impacted.
Rocks in the bottom of containers do not contribute to better draining soils and healthier plants. Instead plant roots encounter saturated soils that don't drain efficiently.
In general, it's not necessary to put rocks in the bottom of your planter to prevent root rot. If your pot doesn't feature a drainage hole, you can drill one or use the two-pot method.
Using rocks in the bottom of pots and planters allows you to fill up the unused space with an inert medium, keeping the optimal amount of soil for your plants while saving soil for the rest of your plants.
Instead of throwing it in the trash, an easy way to repurpose spare cardboard is to line them on the bottom of your raised garden beds. One frequently asked question is whether you can put cardboard in your raised beds. The answer is yes.
However, because landfills are overfilled with non-biodegradable products, many Styrofoam packing products are now made to dissolve in time. It is not recommended to use Styrofoam peanuts for potted plants now, because they may break down in water and soil, leaving you with sunken-in containers.
Add a layer of drainage material to the bottom of the pot. This could be rocks, pebbles, or broken pottery shards. Choose the Right Plant: Opt for more forgiving plants of occasional overwatering, such as pothos (Epipremnum aureum).
Don't put rocks in the bottom of a planter with no drainage hole. Water only gets into the rocks once that bottom layer of soil is totally wet, but when that bottom layer of soil is soaking wet and higher in the pot. because of the rocks, the roots stay wet longer, and that means root rot.
The only way that gravel at the bottom of the pot will increase drainage is if the pot has insufficient drainage, either due to not having enough drainage holes, or by having blocked drainage holes.
I know they look like garbage cans at the moment, but for the bigger pots, I add big chunks of Styrofoam and/or empty plastic bottles (with the lids on) so I don't have to use so much soil. The plants grow just fine in several inches of soil–they don't need two feet of it.
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