"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
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"Jeff Layman" wrote ...

Chris Hogg wrote:
Adam Funk

I always generously crock big clay pots with a layer of broken bits,
but never bother with plastic pots as they have multiple holes and
often a 'castellated' base.

If there is a problem with plastic pots, it's that they are vey light
and a tall plant blows over too easily. A few crocks help add weight.

Recently I've tried "blocking" all the drainage holes with thin slices
of Oasis (sometimes adding crocks above simply to add weight). The
reason for doing this is to dissuade ants from entering the pots and
forming nests, and eventually removing much of the soil. As I grow many
plants in very sandy soil, this is a serious problem. So far it looks
successful, but I'd be interested to see the results if anyone else
wanted to try it. By the way, it doesn't seem to affect drainage as
water simply runs through the Oasis.

You can buy sheets of plastic insect proof netting (or was it shade
cloth?), green in colour, and I've used a piece of that cut to shape to
fit the bottom of the pot in the past to stop ants using the pots as a
nest. Worked for me.

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Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Bob I know it has been drummed into everybodies head time and time again
that I am not a gardener, but DARE I suggest that Ants nesting in a pot
'could' possibly mean that they are tooooooooo dry and need watering?

I know that is a fact in the compost heap, something of which I am an
expert, shock horror ;-)))

Mike


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Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
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