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Thinking about using Self Watering containers in outdoor pots
I'm looking at two products for next year to put in my outdoor pots:
http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=5 -- For large pots, and http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=6 -- For the smaller ones. I have a pretty big container garden, several dozen containers. I don't have a problem watering every day, my main concern is keeping the moisture level of the soil balanced so it isn't over watered and it doesn't go dry. My concerns about these a 1) Flooding when it rains. I think this might be solved by putting about an inch of volcanic pebbles on the bottoms of the pots, then setting the reservoir on top of that. More importantly, 2) Buildup and concentration of fertilizer and minerals in the soil. I like to use a liquid fertilizer, and I'm concerned that over the months of the summer the fertilizer might become too concentrated in the soil. Top watering and draining through the bottom washes out buildups and impurities, so it seems that bottom watering through what's essentially a bucket of water under the soil takes away this element. 3) Seeds. I plant most of my seeds directly in the containers. For some of my larger pots, will the water make it to the surface to keep the seeds moist as they germinate? 4) Disease. Won't a bunch of water under the soil in a bucket accumulate fungus, algae, and bacteria over the summer months? For anyone who has used anything like these outdoors (I am in zone 5) I'd appreciate hearing your experiences. |
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