Viewing post #830906 by sooby

You are viewing a single post made by sooby in the thread called Need some help with this money plant.
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Apr 16, 2015 1:43 PM CST
Name: Sue
Ontario, Canada (Zone 4b)
Annuals Native Plants and Wildflowers Keeps Horses Dog Lover Daylilies Region: Canadian
Butterflies Birds Enjoys or suffers cold winters Garden Sages Plant Identifier
datastream said:
you think i should replant it and maybe put some small stones etc. in the bottom of the pot to help with drainage....


I know it's counter-intuitive, but stones or other coarse material in the bottom of a pot actually impede drainage rather than help it. That's because water doesn't move from finer to coarser material until the finer material is saturated, so it creates what is called a "perched water table". I actually tested this myself once years ago and a pot filled only with potting mix retained 105 ml of water per cup of mix whereas a pot the same size and with the same mix over a drainage layer (of polystyrene packing peanuts) retained 135 ml per cup of mix. So it's better for drainage to have the same mix throughout the pot.

See also:
The Myth of Drainage Material in Container Plantings
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda...

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