"'Mike'" wrote in message
...



"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message , Stephen
Wolstenholme writes
On 15 Jul 2011 12:56:28 GMT, wrote:

David WE Roberts wrote:
These days I think broken up polystyrene is recommended.

The problem with polystyrene is that my chickens then eat it!
(once it falls out, not whilst still in the pots!)

Does it do the chickens any harm? What comes out at the other end?

Steve

Pre-packed eggs?
--
hugh

Eggs which don't break when you drop them? ;-)



How about Boiled Eggs and Soldiers where the Egg doesn't get cold? ;-}}

Mike

--

....................................

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

....................................

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:11:42 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


"Moonraker" wrote in message
...
It is recommended that broken pieces of clay pots are placed at the bottom
to help drainage. As clay pots are rarer then hen's teeth what do Urglers
use at the bottom of their pots, and how much material to they use?
--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

There was some very interesting research recently that showed that pots with
no crocks drained better than those with so I have used this an excuse to
not bother anymore!

Yes, like Emery, I read this too. More important, I think, is that the
drainage holes in many of the big attractive imported pots are
ridiculously small. Masonry drill needed: I tend to make a butchery of
it, and the frost-proof pots play hell with the drills.

On this subject, is there an average formula for the typically
advisable size of drainage holes for each size of pot?

With expanded polystyrene I suppose it depends what kind you use, but
when I've tried, it simply squashed down and _impeded_ drainage.

--
Mike.

On 15/07/2011 08:50, Moonraker wrote:
It is recommended that broken pieces of clay pots are placed at the
bottom to help drainage. As clay pots are rarer then hen's teeth what do
Urglers use at the bottom of their pots, and how much material to they use?

I use a 5mm think slice of oasis to cover the hole completely, push it
down slightly, and put a curved piece of crock over it to hold it in
place. This method is particularly useful for sandy, free-draining
compost, as it prevents any dry compost from falling through.

But the main advantage is that large, dry, sandy-soil pots are beloved
by ants in which to build their nests, and I have never seen an ant
bother to try to eat its way through oasis to get inside the pot.

--

Jeff

On Jul 16, 1:23*pm, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 15/07/2011 08:50, Moonraker wrote:

It is recommended that broken pieces of clay pots are placed at the
bottom to help drainage. As clay pots are rarer then hen's teeth what do
Urglers use at the bottom of their pots, and how much material to they use?

I use a 5mm think slice of oasis to cover the hole completely, push it
down slightly, and put a curved piece of crock over it to hold it in
place. This method is particularly useful for sandy, free-draining
compost, as it prevents any dry compost from falling through.

But the main advantage is that large, dry, sandy-soil pots are beloved
by ants in which to build their nests, and I have never seen an ant
bother to try to eat its way through oasis to get inside the pot.

--

Jeff

The idea of "Crocking" pots dates back to the clay pots, they had just
the one drainage hole and in those days compost was soil based so it
was easy to have the hole block so removing any drainage from the pot,
with the advent of lastic pots the nimber of holes increased to 5 or 6
but as they were all oi the base of the pots crocking helped,
bu****erloging would still occure if the pot was on a smooth surface
as it formed a seal with the ground, to overcome this pots now have
many more drainage holes including some on the bottom edge.
With todays commercial composts there is no need to "Crock", unless
you want to add weight to the pot to stop taller plants being blown
over in the wind,
I find that a couple of inches of gravel in the bottom of the pot adds
weight and doesn't impeed drainage.
David Hill

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 06:42:39 -0700 (PDT), Dave Hill
wrote:


The idea of "Crocking" pots dates back to the clay pots, they had just
the one drainage hole and in those days compost was soil based so it
was easy to have the hole block so removing any drainage from the pot,
with the advent of lastic pots the nimber of holes increased to 5 or 6
but as they were all oi the base of the pots crocking helped,
bu****erloging would still occure if the pot was on a smooth surface
as it formed a seal with the ground, to overcome this pots now have
many more drainage holes including some on the bottom edge.
With todays commercial composts there is no need to "Crock", unless
you want to add weight to the pot to stop taller plants being blown
over in the wind,
I find that a couple of inches of gravel in the bottom of the pot adds
weight and doesn't impeed drainage.
David Hill

I have found this discussion of great interest. All my large
containers which are planted to last more than a single season are
terracotta (glazed and not) or reconstituted stone. They often have
only one small drainage hole, I have always crocked them, placing the
pieces to try to leave spaces to allow drainage. To stop compost/soil
washing through, I use pieces of old horticultural fleece. It seems to
work OK, but that is not to say they wouldn't do better done
differently!

Smaller, plastic pots are a different matter, where they have the
drainage holes in the side especially, I usually would not bother with
crocking.


Gardening on Wilts/Somerset border
on slightly alkaline clay.