®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ writes
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 12:11:41 +0100, "john royce"
wrote:


These tanks are 45cm (18") x 33cm (13") x [30cm (12") high].

Since i will only water the garden about once a week, it would be ideal not
to put any drainage holes in the tank, so any rain would *all* be collected
in the pot. But since i'm afraid of causing rot in the roots, i think i
must have some drainage holes.

I have found in the past that the roots find the holes after a while and go
down into the soil, causing problems when i want to move things around at a
later date.

So what I thought I would do is put some drainage holes in the *side * of
the tank. Then I can easily see if the roots are pushing through.

The question is; how high up the side of the tank to put the holes? If i
put them up say 3 or 4 inches from the bottom, it would trap a bit of water
(like these 'so called' self watering pots).

Would that be about right? Any higher would be better in that it would
retain more water, but would it cause root rot? Grateful for any
suggestions on the best height of the holes.

Why not put the holes in the bottom and raise the pot onto a couple of
bricks or similar?

I often put holes in the sides of pots to get a slight reservoir effect
- mainly so that if the soil does get dry, water that I apply doesn't
pour straight through, but instead pools in the bottom of the pot to be
absorbed slowly.

I put mine anything from an inch to 3 inches depending on the size of
the pot. You need to make sure you have adequate soil above the holes,
so that the plants have adequate root masses in soil that is not
waterlogged.

If you're worried about drainage, you can always fill the pot as far as
the holes with stones or crocks, and that is the best possible mimicking
of a 'self watering' pot.


--
Kay