Gardening Myths Debunked for me

[Tarragon2017]

Dear all

Do you need peebles and grit at the bottom of pots

Do u need to water first thing in the morning

Does the water have to be at least room temperature

Should you move your plants from one pot to the next size up and never overpot

Thanks

[Bex2012]

1) not really
2) not really, water when they need it. I water at night.
3) water can be any temperature just not hot/boiling otherwise youll kill the plants.
4) put plants in whatever size pots you have. Plants will grow to fill the space they have. The only thing I pot on is tomatoes, everything else fends for itself in whatever pots I have to hand.

[Potstubsdustbins]

^^^^^^^^^^Agreed with all the above except potting on, which is a personal thing. I like to pot on in stages so as not to over water the plant, not necessarily to the next size up but say 3" to 5". That way I am sure the roots aren't sat in wet compost.

[Jungle Jane]

I put the odd stones over holes so the compost doesn't block the holes,drainage reasons but sometimes I don't. You might find as you're doing things,you'll do other things that aren't necessarily the way other people do things & have success. I prefer watering early,watering at night alerts all the slugs in my mind,so doing it first thing,it will be a bit dryer on the soil surface & slugs won't like that

[Lumpy]

Don't use pebbles or grit but do have holes in the containers about an inch or so above the bottom for drainage. It can provide a water source when the plant is desparate.

I water in the morning but I am up very early. I know this can cause leaf sorch etc but I have a problem with slugs so won't invite them onto soggy soil over night.

Room temp water might be better for the very tender that you are growing indoors until the weather warms up as it helps to stop cold water shock. My plants are watered with whatever I have to hand as I am a cruel grower who does not pander to their demands - probably why I have so many problems.

My plants, no matter what they are go from what they started life in to their final pots with no messing about.

[Tarragon2017]

Thanks for your questions My big problem is drainage so do you think its best to use compost only or pebbles and grit at bottom. I guess it will always be 50/50

[Tarragon2017]

I was worried that the compost was compacted because when i watered no water drained , but after a rain storm it did drain so i guess i didnt water enough or just enough for it not to drain through

[lottie dolly]

Is it possible for you to stand the pots in a tray of somekind,and just water the tray,the plant gets what it wants,

[Cadalot]

I have found that mains water that has time to air and reach the same temperature as the environment the plants are in gives better results. My neighbour wanted to know what I had done when I looked after her plants whilst she was away as the results were better than she normally got and that was the only thing I did differently to her.

[Bren In Pots]

I always leave a couple of filled watering cans in my GH for watering my toms.

[bobbin]

I cut a bit of fleece and put it over drain hole before the filling pot. I've found crocks.. or bits of broken pot etc gave a cosy niche for a slug to sleep!
I've also read it's a myth that watering causes scorch. ( certainly wouldn't water fragile seedlings in the heat of the day though) I think it was on gardeners Question time.
Anyway watering at a plants base won't cause scorch but surely in the heat of the day water will evaporate faster. I feel night times best for watering.

[Potstubsdustbins]

As the old saying goes 'ask two gardeners the same question, you will get .........three different answers'. It is not an exact science and there are many ways of doing things, the best gardeners use the methods that suit them and their environment.

[pnut]

Do you need pebbles and grit at the bottom of pots?

No, some people use wire mesh, bark chippings, glass beads and other man-made inert, non toxic materials instead. Other people don't put down any lining materials at all.


Do u need to water first thing in the morning?

Some plants that run the risk of developing diseases from stray splashes of water are best watered during the daytime, for example, tomatoes and potatoes that are prone to blight.


Does the water have to be at least room temperature?

No, as long as the water does not push the overall temperature of the growing environment beyond the two extremes of what is survivable by the plant itself.


Should you move your plants from one pot to the next size up and never overpot?

My own view of the whole purpose of pots is that they constrain the plants and keep them at a nice manageable size.

Using incremental pot sizes is a way to regulate (or delay) plant growth.

Overpotting is telling the plant that conditions are unrestricted, that water and nutrients are abundant - grow accordingly.

[Penellype]

There is almost never a single answer to any question about gardening.

Crocks/pebbles - not necessary, although if the pot has big holes the compost may fall out - this is particularly true if the pots are standing on "pot feet". I often use a large crock (usually a piece of broken terracotta pot as it is curved) to cover each hole for permanent plantings, but make sure that the crock doesn't block the hole completely (ie don't cover the entire hole with a flat surface) otherwise the water may not drain. For my veg pots, which I regularly move around, I never use crocks. They add unnecessary weight, as I learned the hard way when I broke one of my plastic troughs that had crocks in the bottom. I have read somewhere that a layer of something different like gravel or sand at the bottom of a pot to aid drainage can actually make drainage worse, and it also uses up valuable root space.


Watering in the morning - I nearly never do this, unless I have been unable to water at night or the plants need extra water after a hot and windy night. Water evaporates faster during the day so to me it makes sense to water in the evening to give the plants the benefit of more of it. I think if slugs are an issue they will be an issue whenever you water, but I could be wrong. Regarding leaf scorch, I find certain leafy veg, particularly spinach, can be badly scorched by wetting the leaves when it is sunny. The argument that rain doesn't cause this is false - if it is followed by hot sunshine it does.

Water at room temperature - this makes no sense at all for plants living outside. In any case, what is "room temperature"? If you have sensitive houseplants that need to be kept in a warm room then certainly let the water warm up, and by all means leave a can of water in the greenhouse for the tomatoes etc (I do this), but anything outside gets water straight from the tap.

Overpotting - something else that makes little sense to me for most things. How do you prevent "overpotting" when planting out into the garden? However there are some plants that really don't like sitting in a large and almost empty pot of soggy compost, particularly brassicas. As most of these (except pak choi and root veg) don't really mind being potted on, I tend to pot them up gradually. Other plants can be checked by repotting and I would therefore try to do this as little as possible. With things like tomatoes, although the plants themselves don't seem to mind, the bigger they get the more risk you run of knocking off the flowers or baby fruit, and by the time they need support they become extremely difficult to pot on. I therefore plant my tomatoes out into their final pots as soon as they need repotting. The only exception are the very dwarf Balconi ones, which conveniently have 2 flushes of fruit, and I pot them on into bigger pots to go outside in between.