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Would burying a pot inside a pot reduce watering needs?

ManderMander Posts: 349
in Problem solving
I have a big pot that seems to dry out very quickly. I know about the concept of burying a porous pot next to a plant for easier watering, but I wondered whether I could bury a small pot *without* any holes that isn't porous in the middle of the big pot. The idea was that it would collect some of the water that goes through the pot and the plant's roots would be able to access it without waterlogging the whole pot. Is that crazy talk?

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Wouldn't it be easier to just put a pot saucer under it?
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    A really interesting question. I would think that - buring a pot in the ground would reduce watering needs a good deal, if you were going away for a while.

    A deep saucer is also useful. Clustering pots together and moving them into the shade also helps. 
  • ManderMander Posts: 349
    fidgetbones said:
    Wouldn't it be easier to just put a pot saucer under it?
    Not necessarily I don't think, since the pot that usually has this issue is quite big and heavy so it would be hard to empty it if it was needed. But I might look around for a saucer that will fit it. 
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I’m slightly confused, do you mean just plant a small pot in a big pot full of soil? Or sink the whole pot/pot within a pot into the ground? Or both?!

    This is a rose I grew from a cutting that is too small for a big pot yet, but it needs some sun to bloom. The small impermeable plastic pot (has holes in the bottom) is submerged into a bigger pot of soil which helps to insulate and keep the roots cool. I water both big and little pots so the plant has water directly, but can also draw up extra from the surrounding moat via capillary action. The surface looks dry but there is plenty of moisture in there under the mulch:


    I was seduced by some tender grasses last year and they get buried up to their necks in the border in their big plastic (single) pots so I can easily lift them out to overwinter in the garage.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'm confused too. What plants are you growing in it?
    I can't see how the roots would access the water, or rather - the wet soil in the inner pot, unless it was quite wide, and at the base. You'd then have the opposite problem if it's a plant that doesn't like sitting long term in very moist soil, and you had persistent rain.
    If it dries out too quickly, then it suggests you need a better soil mix for the plants you have in it. That's why a saucer on the outside is better if it's always dry.  :)

    If it's a terracotta pot, they absorb a lot of moisture, so they benefit from being coated with PVA [on the inside is better] or similar. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I just can't see how it would work, either.
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  • ManderMander Posts: 349
    I guess I was thinking about wicking systems I've seen where you just have a string buried in the soil leading to a pot of water and wondering if you could skip the whole string thing and just bury something like an empty tin in the larger pot while you're filling it, so that there is a mini reservoir in the pot. I was thinking that there would then be part of the pot that has more water in it so that some of the roots grow toward that, but the whole pot isn't sitting in a dish so there is still drainage.
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