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Impatiens in too wet container
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Posted by claudia_sandgrower SC Zone 8 (My Page) on Sun, May 17, 09 at 18:17
| Hello all... this is my post on this forum, though I've been know to lurk about! I have a large cast iron container with no drainage holes. The container is an antique - it came from a Pennsylvania steel mill and was used as the molten metal was poured from one pot to another... it looks a bit like a cauldron but has a rounded bottom and no legs. (It weighs well over 100 lbs and there is no way that I can drill holes for drainage, but I wouldn't want to do that, anyway.)
All that said, I planted it full of impatiens this year and watered well... TOO well, I'm afraid, as just after planting we had drenching rains. Now the soil is absolutely soggy and I'm afraid I'm going lose the plants if I don't do something about it! Can anyone offer any ideas on how to get some of the water out? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Impatiens in too wet container
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| It had happened to me two years ago when I had left all my impatiens containers outside. I was able to salvage some of them by getting them into the ground. The roots definitely rot, so you want to either take the impatiens out and put them into the ground or replace/r take some of the soggy soil out and add some dry matter - soil, saw dust, perlite, peat moss etc. and then repot the impatiens. Good luck! greenbug |
RE: Impatiens in too wet container
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| I don't know if this will help or not but I grow impatients in a container that stays in my pond all summer. The soil is constantly wet although I will admit it isn't stagnant. My impatients do wonderful. Sandra |
RE: Impatiens in too wet container
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| Mine are thriving in the pond! |
RE: Impatiens in too wet container
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| Well, what I ultimately did was to repot the plants and place the new pot inside the ladel. The height worked, but the diameter of the new pot was smaller than the ladel (the original container), so I still had to deal with water collecting inside the ladel. I used Mosquito Dunks to avoid the mosquito breeding problem, but still wasn't happy with the way the pot-in-pot arrangement looked or the fact that water would still stagnate inside the ladel. Finally I hit on a solution: I bought two bags of playground sand and poured it into the space between the two containers. It works great - just like burying a container in the ground - and the impatiens are thriving! |
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