Hi, Chris,

Most experienced growers will discourage you from using these types of pots for a number of reasons:

You can't control the porosity
You can't periodically leach the pot (since there is no drainage) to leach out builtup fertilizer salts
You have to use a potting mix that is very light; 1 part peat moss, 1 part vermiculite and 1-2 parts of perlite

They are designed for the water to surround the unglazed part and seep thru the clay. Great thought, doesn't always work that way.

If you use this without changing the soil mix to a much lighter mix, it will probably end up being overwatered and die.

There are a lot of posts here about these pots, you may want to spend some time reading up on them.

Barbara
F

Barbara....thanks for the reply. I have like 50 AV and thought I would try just a few self waters(6).Three I got at Walmart and 3 off eBay. They all seem to let in just a little too much water. Thats why I was wondering if maybe the pot should not be touching the water and it sould evaporate into the pot? Any way...I'm new to AV and self watering pots.

I do have some long planters where you pour water into the bottom and it evaporates into the plants....and they are doing most splended!

I second Barbara. They are not a good choice. Try Oyama pots - they are much better.

These glazed pots - at first they pass too much water - and 6 months later the pores get clogged - and they do not pass any water. And to restart them you need to put them in a kiln and refire at 1500F. (Yeah right - where is the kiln...)

Since you already bought this thing - I would use Barbara's advice - soil should be very light. You add just a bit of water at the bottom and do not refill until the soil starts drying. My understanding is if you have a strong large plant - it will take all the water - if you have just repotted one - you need basically water from the top.

You can grow something else in these pots that is not afraid of waterlogging. Pothos for example. Tradeskantia (Wandering Jew),

Good Luck

Irina

Thanks again for the info. For now I have them out of the pots just drying. I'll just have to be a little attentive with these....actually they are all a little attentive come to think of it!

What is a good way to plant several together? Its kind of a loaded question. I am using several different things now...and they all seem to work well. Some are top watered, some are dish watered and some are evaporated. Sorry if it sounds foolish...but somehow I have an orphanage of AV's that were destined for trash. I have had to "crash course" myself and am glad to find this site. Obviously lots of knowledge here. Thanks again.

Hi, Chris,

I hear ya about the orphanage concept! The thrill of a successful rescue is a real high...

A couple of questions for you regarding the plants you put into the self-waterers.....

What type of potting medium did you use?

How big across are the plants?

Also, could you clarify for me what you mean by 'evaporation' when you refer to watering?

Thanks, and have a good growing day.

Barbara

>>A couple of questions for you regarding the plants you >>put into the self-waterers.....

>>What type of potting medium did you use?

I just used the MiricleGrow for AV.

>>How big across are the plants?
They varied from small to large...like I said earlier...I just potte six in self wateres.

>>Also, could you clarify for me what you mean >>by 'evaporation' when you refer to watering?

Well...I probably used the wrong terminology. Anyway I have these window box planters that you poor water into a tray thats attached to the bottom. It has a little lip on each corner to pour. The upper plant container has several rows of thin slots in the bottom to allow the water to evaporate up into the mix. I been filling it once a week and the water is acutually gone within an hour or so. The plants are all starting to bloom (some have 10+ already) and (I dont know why) I thought the self watering pots would work the same way...but they dont.

Hi, Chris,

Thank you for clarifying some things for me. I now have a better idea what is going on with your plants.

First of all, if you are going to use the self-watering planters, you need to use a really light mix. The mixes made commercially are almost all peat moss, and they will stay too waterlogged to be successful in these planters. You can use this mix, but add equal parts of perlite and vermiculite to it, with a little extra perlite thrown in. This lighter mix allows air spaces for the roots. You can also add the fertilizer right to the solution in the pot. These pots do not work by evaporation, they simply allow the water on one side to seep through the clay to the other side. Agian, difficult to control...

The rule of thumb for the correct pot size is to measure the diamet of the plant, and divide by three. The answer is what the diameter of the pot should be. A nine-inch plant goes in a 3 inch pot. The reason for this is that violets are a shallow rooted plant, and they like to be pot bound. If they are overpotted, there isn't enough root system to absorb all the water in the potting medium, and the chances of getting root rot are very high.

As far as 'evaporation', imagine two bowls of water sitting on your counter. If you placed a potted plant over one bowl without it touching any part of the water, it is not going to get any of that water into the pot through evaporation. If you place the pot IN the water of the second bowl, it will ABSORB the water to the extent of the capacity of the medium.

There is a lot of information here on the forum, and if you get some spare time I would encourage you to go through the posts and absorb as much as you can.

Good luck.

Barbara