This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Plant Pouch
Fishy65
Posts: 2,276
I bought a plant pouch today along with some trailing Lobelia and trailing Begonias.The plants were bought from a lovely little plant stall in a nearby village with all proceeds going to a donkey sanctuary.Everything was going according to plan until I realised the slits in the pouch were too small for the root balls of the plants.Cue some furious cutting of the slits with scissors.I suppose what I should have done was buy plants in smaller cell trays rather than home grown plants with big bulky root balls *duh* However I enjoy supporting charities if I can and appreciate the hard work the lovely lady does in growing all those plants.Each root ball had to be trimmed down while still trying to maintain enough roots to give the plants a good start. Anyway the task was achieved plus planting up my battered old hanging basket too.Both pouch and basket are looking a bit sorry for themselves right now but then they normally do just after being put together.
0
Posts
Hi Fishy,
Are these the plastic pouches that fit 12 plants down the front? I had a right mare with mine too and I'm surprised the plants survived all the poking and prodding quite frankly
At least yours was for a good cause
HI VS, loved your new swear phrase...right mare...predictive text strikes again haha, I've had some corkers lately. Off subject but hasn't it been fabulous weather in our corner of the NE.
I've never used those pouches I thought they would be difficult to water, ie water running out the holes. I'm more of a terracotta pot person, nowt posh B and Q. I'm busy potting pelargoniums and am lining the pots with black plastic to see if that slows down the drying out. No doubt it will now rain for a month.
Isn't that a phrase 'a right mare'
That's what I meant to say- maybe I made it up
Yes Bilje, weather has been super round here, my soil is starting to bake and crack
So no slugs for now.
You're right about the holes in the pouches and I thought about taping them up after last years experience but when it came to it I was just too lazy... I suppose if I don't let them completely dry out the water won't run down the insides and straight out the bottom. Also this year I used the peat free verve stuff and it seems to have a different composition like it won't solidify when dry...have to see how that goes
Sorry VS thought you meant nightmare... I've used a right concoction of compost this year. Cheap as chips but ok compost from Aldi mixed half and half with topsoil and a sprinkle BFB. This is for reasonably large pots. I still struggle to find a decent compost for seeds and cuttings, some seem to really hold on to water and little plants struggle.
My top tip to squeeze your plants into the holes is to pop the root ball into a food bag and the shove/pull the bag through. Should result in less damage to the plant and reduce compost loss. Remove bag once plant in place
That is a good idea 4thpanda
Even after 120 plants I hadn't thought of a better idea than rolling the roots into a sausage... I'll remember that one for next year