Why Drainage is Important for Potted Plants
Image description: Several Peperomia happy bean succulents in a greenhouse tray with a shallow amount of water. The succulents are soaking water from the bottom of their pots upward, which helps grow stronger roots.
Why don’t our pots have a drainage hole?
This is a question we get from our followers regularly. And it’s half right -- our terracotta pots do not have a drainage hole at the bottom. But we do have an inner grower pot that has drainage and a raised bottom so your roots stay safe!
Keep reading for more on why we do it this way and how to water your Wild Interiors plants.
Why is Drainage Important?
Drainage is crucial for potted plants so your plant’s roots avoid standing water, which will lead to root rot. Overwatering can lead to over-saturated soil or standing water in the bottom of your pot. Your roots can’t give water a polite, “No thank you,” so they’ll keep trying to absorb the water around them. Too much water leads to cell death and decaying of your roots, which can spread through the soil to affect the rest of your roots and can cause irreparable damage to your plant.
Poor root health can have multiple symptoms like wilting or yellowing leaves; it’s best to know the basics about your plant’s common issues and symptoms to stop problems before it’s too late.
Read more: My Plant Has Yellow Leaves - Help!
Read more: Treating Root Rot and Soft Rot in Houseplants
What is a Grower Pot?
When we talk about our pots, we have two: the grower pot and the outer pot. The grower pot is a black plastic pot that contains your plant and soil. You can remove this from the outer pot, which is made from terra cotta clay or ceramic. Grower pots are also called nursery pots.
Grower pots have drain holes at the bottom and are slightly raised so that excess water can pass through the holes into your clay or ceramic pot below and be discarded later. It’s like having a pot with a hole and a saucer, but it’s all contained in one piece and there’s no worry about spilling or running over the edge of your saucer. Simply pop out the grower pot and dump any excess water you see.
Grower pots also help you to quickly check in on your root health. If you see roots growing through the drainage holes, this can block your drainage and lead to rot. A root bound plant should be repotted so the roots have plenty of space to grow and don’t block your drainage holes.
Read more: Root Bound Plant Symptoms and Repotting Tips
How to Water Houseplants
There are a few options you can use for watering your Wild Interiors plant.
Bottom Watering
For succulents, water from the bottom. Remove the inner pot, add about an inch of water into your clay or ceramic pot, and put the grower pot back inside. The soil and roots will soak up water from the bottom, which helps strengthen roots and allows the water to reach your succulent’s leaves more gradually. Water with about an inch of water (⅓ cup) a month.
Read more: Bottom Watering: How to Water Succulents for Stronger Roots
Top Watering in the Pot
You can take the classic route and water your plant with a watering can by pouring fresh water onto the soil. Take care to water all around the pot, not just in one area, or you can risk overwatering one half of your pot and harming the roots.
Most foliage plants like to be watered when the top inch or two of soil is dry. Check the soil with your finger or a moisture reader, and then water until the soil is damp. After your plants have had time for the water to saturate the soil, double check the pots for excess water and dump out any sitting water in the pot.
Top Watering in the Grower Pot
If you have multiple plants and want to water everything at once, or if you have under-watered your plants and need to re-moisten the entire pot of soil, you might want to put everybody in the sink for a good spray down.
Remove your grower pots from the outer pots, and put them in the kitchen sink. Thoroughly water each plant until water is passing through the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot, indicating that the soil has been saturated.
If a plant still feels light, not heavy with water, gently guide the soil and root ball out of the grower pot to check for dry spots. Under-watered soil will be compacted and have a hard time taking on moisture so you might want to bottom water or continue running water through the soil until it’s fully moistened.
Note: You don’t want your soil to be soupy and wet, just thoroughly moistened all the way through. Give your plants time to drain completely before putting them back in their outer pots.
Questions?
You can always reach out to us via email (info@wildinteriors.com) or on social media (IG @wild_interiors) with care questions and we’ll help you figure out what’s going on with your plant babies!