"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 May 2004 18:51:44 +0100, "[H]omer" wrote:

If it is dead,

Why am I thinking of the Dead Parrot sketch? :-)

the main
reason for the other one dying was probably just neglect. It probably
died
of dehydration, since I never watered it (figuring it's OK if it's
outdoors - doh!). I've only recently taken an interest in gardening.

Things in pots dry out much more quickly than things in the ground,
for obvious reasons. And of course have access only to rain that falls
on the small area of the soil surface. I don't know much about oak
cultivation ('though we do have pin oak here), but trying to dig up
the squirrels' legacy in the garden reveals a large tough taproot.

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I have four bonsai trees grown for twenty years from tiny plants in the
local woods, they are now each about a foot high. You have to water bonsai
daily. however, mine get neglected sometimes but not to worry,
I use the Doug method Mk5.
I like the jelly and custard in those clear plastic bowls you get from
Asdas, and I collect the plastic bowls. I drill about five three--sixteenth
holes around the circumference about half an inch from the top rim. I then
three-quarters fill with peat or anything else going up to near the top. I
Don't fill to the very top, because the plants tend to fall over sometimes,
especially in transit.
Every small pot I've got has its plastic bowl 'seat' and I water the plant,
plus the bowl. The holes drilled in the plastic bowls drain the excess water
to a reasonable level. Thus, all my small-pot plants survive very well.
I only fertilise the pot, but nemmind , eh!, it does no harm if it seeps
down. The principle is quite simple, - the bowl acts as a handy plant stand
and the plant has its own private reservoir. According to circumstances I
sometimes just water the bowl.
Doug.

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