Only the best for my babies Lighting lemonade and organic alpaca sweaters make for the healthiest super lemon. Just remember if the alpaca isn't organic it will blow up your garden upon contact. I'm cheap ask me how i know
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what to put on the bottom of pots for Drainage?
- Thread starter Wooderson
- Start date
Only the best for my babies Lighting lemonade and organic alpaca sweaters make for the healthiest super lemon. Just remember if the alpaca isn't organic it will blow up your garden upon contact. I'm cheap ask me how i know
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LOL
Yea, dude. I'm serious. I went to a buddy's house to pick up some buckets outside in their garden that were not being used. They had dead plants and old dirt in em, so I went to empty the buckets before bringing em home. I was surprised to find a big ass sweater balled up in the bottom half of the bucket, top half dirt. I figured I'd give it a try.
I don't go so far as to ball up cloth halfway up the bucket, but I definately make sure the drainage holes are blocked.
He's serious. Interesting technique........I Imagine it would grow on the hide of a moose too,but there are far better things to work with brother.
Trichgnomes
Member
I hear what you are saying, and granted, most alpaca fur probably does come from Peru. However, there are a lot of Alpacas in the States. For instance, my neighbor has one.
Lucky you!! Time to go hunting so we can have an experiment with organic alpacas. I'll take some 'paca steaks, medium rare please.
I agree with Capt though there are much better alternatives out there. I wouldn't want to know how long it taks for a sweater to break down, or what can infect it.
Mt Toaker
Member
I tried putting perlite in the bottom of my containers this grow and I have been looking at so many issues, seems like over-watering and I have considered it to be this. . . Now I'm thinking about pulling out the root-ball and taking all the perlite out, still got about 6-7 weeks of flower on them.
Stoned Crow
Member
I always cover my drain holes with river rock (I put a large rock over each corner drain hole, then fill the bottom 1 inch with smaller rocks). It's always worked for me, no complaints.
Oh yeah, and I use 3.5 gallon square pots. Hope this helps.
......SC
Oh yeah, and I use 3.5 gallon square pots. Hope this helps.
......SC
Just because you haven't experienced any problems, doesnt necessarily mean they aren't there, nor does it mean its a good thing to do even if it hasn't caused any yet.I always cover my drain holes with river rock (I put a large rock over each corner drain hole, then fill the bottom 1 inch with smaller rocks). It's always worked for me, no complaints.
Oh yeah, and I use 3.5 gallon square pots. Hope this helps.
Read the link below.
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Container%20drainage.pdf
reckon
Member
Nothing. That's a myth. Adding a layer like that is worse for drainage. Just use the same media all the way through the container. I could explain the physics of but I would rather not, I have written about this many times already. Trust me. To increase drainage grow in taller containers, I use at least 12" but I prefer to use 14-16".
professional nurseries NEVER add a drainage layer to any size pots, just the same light airy mix all the way through
I also use tall pots as well, mine are 16".
Stoned Crow
Member
I've read the link below, and my plants turn out fine every harvest....SC
EDIT: I hope that wasn't anyone's PhD thesis. It was a little short on the whys? & how comes?.
Thats the same thing that happened to me. It becomes a smelly mess over time. For some reason it just doesnt let the excess water drip off. I've learned my lesson and its never happening again.
Stoned Crow
Member
....And, yeah, if I'm not experiencing the problem, it's not there. I know what I'm doing, if I couldn't handle problems, I'd have been buying my weed for the last 15 years......SC
No it wasn't a thesis, but she does have a Ph.D. in Horticulture, as well as an award winning book about gardening. Its just part of a series of myths debunked. If you read the article Secondtry posted earlier in this thread, then you would better understand the how's and whys she is talking about.
But hey, you've been growing for 15 years and its worked for you. Why change now even when someone with a Ph.D. is telling you that your way serves no beneficial purpose, and only can do harm?
Stoned Crow
Member
Truthfully, a PhD doesn't mean shit to me. Like I said in my original post to this thread, I use river rock, it is much different than perlite and old sweatshirts, as in it's usually smoother and has a certain level of allowing to it to shed water instead of holding it.
I'm not gong to read her books if she's not going to be more specific on "layers of finer textured materials to layers of more coarse textured." I don't even know what the fuck that means.
What I find most troubling to the authority you cite, is that she doesn't even go into the what type of plant was being grown!! African Violets? Cat-Nip? Rosemary? Purple-Basil? .....SC
NUG-JUG
Member
Because some people have no respect for science since opinion is fact in our society. I also use pea gravel in the bottom of my pots and I have not experienced any problems. Yet I've decided to stop doing this since I defer to authority on many things, with great results!
Truthfully, a PhD doesn't mean shit to me. Like I said in my original post to this thread, I use river rock, it is much different than perlite and old sweatshirts, as in it's usually smoother and has a certain level of allowing to it to shed water instead of holding it.
I'm not gong to read her books if she's not going to be more specific on "layers of finer textured materials to layers of more coarse textured." I don't even know what the fuck that means.
What I find most troubling to the authority you cite, is that she doesn't even go into the what type of plant was being grown!! African Violets? Cat-Nip? Rosemary? Purple-Basil? .....SC
You could have the smoothest river rocks in the world, and it wouldn't increase your drainage no matter how many you put at the bottom of the pot. The type of plants doesn't make any difference either. Its about soil dynamics. It has nothing to do with the plants roots.
Read the article Secondtry posted on the first page I think, and It will be easily explained to you. Hint: Capillary action.
P.S. The visitor message you left me has me thoroughly confused. Thank god I am not high right now, or Id be totally mind fucked from it.
Stoned Crow
Member
I never once said I was trying to increase my drainage....and the type of plant does make a difference on how much water you want your soil to hold...to think otherwise will lead you to failure....and it has everything to do with the plants' roots.....I've read up on Capillary Action and stand by my previous posts.........SC.
I never once said I was trying to increase my drainage....and the type of plant does make a difference on how much water you want your soil to hold...to think otherwise will lead you to failure....and it has everything to do with the plants' roots.....I've read up on Capillary Action and stand by my previous posts.........SC.
Then why do you put rocks at the bottom of your pots if not for drainage? Aesthetic reasons?
Obviously, we need to tailor our soil to the water needs of our plants. I wouldn't stick a cactus in peat moss and expect it to live. But using a false drainage layer doesn't aid our plants in any way. If you really think it helps, then why dont you actually use a more coarse soil mixture instead and forego the "drainage layer"?
This will be my last post regarding this. I know understand why Secondtry has lost all desire to post in threads now.
Should you take nothing from this thread thats just fine with me. We're all free to believe what we want regardless of how much knowledge is thrown at us.
