"David" wrote in message ...
On Wed, 28 Jun 2017 08:32:22 +0100, Graeme wrote:

In message , David
writes

Chanced across a small blow up one in HomeBase for £4.99 which seemed
worth a punt.

There are a million blow up pools available via eBay. Sounds like a
good idea, as you could stand the pot on the base then inflate the sides
around it, which would avoid having to lift the pot over the inflated
sides.

My suggestion was going to be a rigid cement mixing tray. More
expensive, and fairly shallow, but also useful for other jobs - like
mixing cement :-)


Have one of those - it is a bit too shallow to get good immersion.


Why do you need to immerse them ?

Do you not wonder how everybody else with large pots manages to water them
successfully without having to resort to immersing them ?

There are situarions, cacti which fill the entire pot, where there's no
alternative. But they're only watered three or four times a year at most.
And are thoroughly drained each time not left standing in water.

Standing posts in water is a bad idea for reasons already given.

Basically it takes time. If the compost is thoroughly dried out then maybe
you will need to water them, over a couple of days. Lightly water the top
and when that's eventually soaked in the compost will expand to the
sides and water will no longer run down the sides between the pot
and the compost and straight out the bottom. This takes time
as you will learn with experience.

Similarly if you're growing plants in large pots, the surface of the soil
or compost may well dry out even go rock hard, while underneath its
still moist. Basically pots need to be watered when the plants need it
not when (it may well look as if) the soil needs it. You can tell this
if you're lucky by examining the leaves. Basically if the leaves and maybe
stems aren't showing initial signs of wilting - going soft (leaves)
or stringy (stems) but remain rigid then in those plants the pots
don't need watering. I say if you're lucky because in many waxy
leaved plants camellias, rodos etc this is almost impossible
to tell. In which case you might need to splash out on a moisture
meter.

But somehow I don't think you want to know this. Like a lot
of people posting questions on Usenet you already know all the
answers, you've got your "quick fix" to your problem and anyone
telling you any different is already wasting their time.

Such is life, I suppose


michael adams

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