How to improve the drainage of a pot

One of the mistakes we most often make is to overwater the plants. It is often thought that the more water we give them, the better they will grow, not in vain, water is life. But this is not so. The extremes are very harmful: whether we water a little or a lot, our vegetables will not be able to develop well.

To avoid these problems, we are going to tell you how to improve the drainage of a pot . So your plants will have an excellent growth 🙂 .

When we want to improve the drainage of a pot we can do several things, which are:

Index

  • 1 Holes in the plastic pot
  • 2 Add a layer of clay balls
  • 3 Mix the substrate with a porous material

Holes in the plastic pot

plastic pot

If the container in which we want to plant a flower is made of plastic and does not have holes or only has one or two, it may be necessary for us to make a few more. To do this, we can use sewing scissors and pierce it .

Sometimes it requires a bit of patience, but if we turn the scissors at the end we will get a hole that will allow the roots not to be in contact with the excess water.

Add a layer of clay balls

clay balls

Clay or expanded clay balls will be very useful to improve the drainage of a pot, since they are also very cheap (a 20l bag can cost 9 euros). Thus, we will put a first layer of clay before planting the plant , and thus we will be able to enjoy our pots for many years.

Mix the substrate with a porous material

perlite

Commercial substrates have very important nutrients for plants, but they do not always have good drainage. For this reason, it is highly recommended that we mix them with some porous material , such as perlite , expanded clay or the like. The proportion will vary depending on the type of plant it is. For example: if they are cacti or succulent plants, it is recommended that it be 5:5, that is, that we mix the substrate with the material that we prefer in equal parts; On the other hand, if they are horticultural plants, flowers, or indoor plants, we can mix 70% of the substrate with the material.

How to improve the drainage of a pot

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