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Science has confirmed that including stones to the underside of your flower pots can really hurt the crops. So why are we nonetheless doing it?
Identical to me, you’ve most likely heard to your whole life – no less than your gardening life – that it is best to add small stones, gravel, items of damaged ceramic pots, or different filler to the underside of your containers earlier than planting. The reasoning is that it gives higher drainage to your crops because it helps the water drain sooner by means of the pot.
It sounds cheap, proper? Nevertheless it seems that stones within the backside of the pot really gradual drainage and might hurt your crops. Scientists have confirmed it.
Truly, they busted this gardening fable greater than 100 years in the past and lots of occasions since then. However one way or the other, this vital reality hasn’t entered the collective conscience of dwelling gardeners – we’re nonetheless throwing every kind of issues into the underside of our flower pots. I used to be responsible of this too till I stumbled throughout the analysis on the Backyard Professors web page on Fb.
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Research present that in a pot, water doesn’t rapidly cross from soil to stone
Scientists have demonstrated that water doesn’t simply transfer between a fantastic textured materials like soil and a coarser materials like stones. Extra particularly, water could be very gradual to cross the world between the 2 supplies. So the coarse supplies on the backside of the container gradual water drainage, making the soil extra prone to develop into waterlogged and probably drown your plant’s roots.
“The actual fact is, when water transferring by means of a soil reaches a horizontal or vertical interface between totally different soil sorts, it stops transferring.”
Why this occurs: gravity
Fairly than water freely transferring down by means of the the soil and throughout the stones, water resists crossing the barrier between them. That’s as a result of the water within the higher layer is being pulled upwards by the dry soil and the crops. This offsets the results of gravity, which might in any other case pull the water by means of the stones. The water builds up within the prime layer till it’s oversaturated, and solely then is water within the soil launched into the layer under. The oversaturation of the soil poses a risk to your plant’s roots and could also be why your container-grown petunias didn’t survive the season occasionally.
“It’s a fable {that a} layer of gravel (inside the underside of a person pot) beneath the soil improves container drainage. As a substitute of additional water draining instantly into the gravel, the water “perches” or gathers within the soil simply above the gravel. The water gathers till no air area is left. As soon as all of the obtainable soil air area fills up, then extra water drains into the gravel under. So gravel within the backside does little to maintain soil above it from being saturated by overwatering.”
So the subsequent time you pot up your crops, simply add soilless potting combine and nothing else, And naturally, be certain there are good drainage holes within the pot.
Learn extra: The Fantasy of Drainage Materials in Container Plantings, Washington State College Extension, or obtain the pdf.
To see for your self why this occurs, try this video from Joe Gardener.
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