Popcorn is the worst stuff.I'm glas Bluestone Perennials stopped using it.
Some shippers use a variety of popcorn that dissolves in water, MaryKay I think.

It is a cornstarch derivative and dissolves in high humidity, so be careful if you use it. Former company (recycled electronics) tried it and it t'ain't no good for shipping electronics! But is good for shipping non-delicate--or wet-- items.

I wad up all the stinking plastic bags from the grocery store. Use one bag to hold all the others inside it.

Let us know what you finally used.

I have used perlite, peanuts, not a big fan. If it is smaller I have used our limestone gravel for a base. I first put in coffee filters to keep the soil from filtering out. It keeps it neater.


Welcome, Jan

Lava Rock is the best and natural.

I like to think it retains a bit of residual fertilizer through the years as it trickles down, and benefits the plants.

Any soil that does in time trickle down through it only adds to a more natural substrate that some plants roots may benefit from.

The upside is that as rock goes;...Lava is very porous, cheap, natural, and light! It will be here longer than us. Leave the plastic for the recycling centers is my thought.

David,
Thanks for the Lava Rock suggestion...I may try that next year. Is it pricey?
Depending on how "large/ tall" your container is, another consideration may be a DIY self-watering conversion.

Not really Joanne,

Its about 3.65 a bag at lowes or Home Depot, and one or two bags is usually all needed for most larger pots. It isn't that heavy but heavy enough to help larger top heavy light plastic pots from tipping in the wind.

Love your daughters Rose!

Thanks David. I will check out Lowes & Home Depot for the lava rock. Also, thanks for the comment on the sketch. She's working on a chickadee sketch that I hope to frame. She prefers drawing animals & birds over flowers.

I'm actually a big fan of the styrofoam peanuts due to the lightness of the fill therewith. I use giant pots to grow Gloriosas in and they are overwintered dry in the basement. Pots w/o the peanuts would probably about break my back when moving them in/out of basement. There are different kinds of peanuts, the ones I use are kind of stiff and break clean. This kind doesn't break down when watered. When re-potting these large containers I usually re-cycle peanuts therefrom; these peanuts aren't as available as much these days as they were in yesteryears.

Jmorth, I do the same thing with the peanuts. I find that when I repot or "discontinue" a planter, the peanuts that I dig up can be saved and then slipped into the next planter without too much dusting off. The huge blocks of hard styro from electronic equipment aren't recycled in my state (the mailing stores only take the 'soft styro' for re-use), so I keep them and break them up to fit the bottoms of large pots. I then fill in the smaller spaces left by the large blocks with the peanuts. Takes a lot of weight off of a large potted planter when it needs to be moved around with the shifting exposures of the seasons.

Funny incident: I used some of the broken blocks of hard styro in one of my planters out front. This fall after I removed the old plants I left some of the dirt and the styro in place. My neighbor offered to use her leaf blower to clean off my patio and then began to blow the leaves off from around the plants on the front. Well she pointed inside that pot and those little blocks took flight and ended up all over the yard. I picked up what I could but am sure the yard crew who cleans up for the Condo Assn must have thought someone was a real nut.( a kind word for it)

Oops...