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

"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?


These days I think broken up polystyrene is recommended.
Although I haven't any polystyrene around at the moment.
I think the clay pot thing was from when they were cheap, in common use, and
often broken so it was a readily available material.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

"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?
--

Frankly I never bother. Never had any problems AFAIK.
R.

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

"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?


These days I think broken up polystyrene is recommended.
Although I haven't any polystyrene around at the moment.
I think the clay pot thing was from when they were cheap, in common use,
and often broken so it was a readily available material.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

We use broken polystyrene as well BUT, there is a snag with it. The
polystyrene is light, consequently the pot can become top heavy and blow
over.

Some heavy weight right in the bottom, a couple of broken bricks, then
polystyrene works.

Of course it depends on the size of the pot, its height, what you are
putting in it and how high it's going to grow and more important, how big
the base of the put is. Narrow base, tall pot, wide top and you can expect
trouble

Mike
Been there, done that, staked the pots

--

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

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

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

"'Mike'" wrote in message
...


"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

"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?


These days I think broken up polystyrene is recommended.
Although I haven't any polystyrene around at the moment.
I think the clay pot thing was from when they were cheap, in common use,
and often broken so it was a readily available material.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

We use broken polystyrene as well BUT, there is a snag with it. The
polystyrene is light, consequently the pot can become top heavy and blow
over.

Some heavy weight right in the bottom, a couple of broken bricks, then
polystyrene works.

Of course it depends on the size of the pot, its height, what you are
putting in it and how high it's going to grow and more important, how big
the base of the put is. Narrow base, tall pot, wide top and you can expect
trouble

Mike
Been there, done that, staked the pots

--


the base of the put is :-(( ........ the base of the POT is ;-))
--

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

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

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

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

"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?


These days I think broken up polystyrene is recommended.
Although I haven't any polystyrene around at the moment.
I think the clay pot thing was from when they were cheap, in common use,
and often broken so it was a readily available material.


Any broken crockery, tiles, stones etc will be just as good.

Steve

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 very rarely use drainage crocks in pots with small drainage holes.
Where I do need crocks, I use slate pieces and broken crocks dug up from
the garden - masses of it round here :~)). I have also used polystyrene
in a huge pot to limit the amount of compost I need to use, as well as
for drainage.

In winter, if I have large slabs of polystyrene, I use it to stand pots
on so the roots aren't near the frozen ground. I find this quite helpful.

Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

"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!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

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!)

On 07/15/2011 02:11 PM, 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 I've seen this too. I don't use crocks either, when I have drainage
problems I've invariably gotten the soil mixture wrong. The important
thing with plastic pots is to use those that have holes at two levels,
so the pot bottom has a raised part with holes and a place for the water
to escape. For the clay pots -- which aren't all that expensive, I
think it's about 0.50 EU for 1 liter, although that's still 5x the price
of a plastic one -- I usually find the coarseness of the mix keeps it
in. Clay has a big advantage over plastic in summer, because it stays
cool. On the other hand in winter...

When I really need to get maximal drainage, I fill the bottom of the pot
with coarse pine bark chips. Maples love this and put their roots right
down into it. You could certainly try this method if you haven't any
broken crocks.

-E

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

--
Neural network software applications, help and support.

Neural Planner Software www.NPSL1.com

Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
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?

It doesn't /seem/ to have done any harm. I haven't found any polystyrene in
the eggs so far. :-P
I presume they just poo it out again.
..

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

"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? ;-)

Mike


--

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

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

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

I assumed it was to stop the compost falling out the holes.

I use broken pieces of clay pots. I have plenty. We retrieve them and reuse them.