on July 29, 2010 by Jenny in All, Comments Off
Early Experiments With Double-Pot Watering
Many gardeners mention in passing, the “double-pot” method, but no one seems to put much stress on it, or point out its great advantages. I have given it a good test, enough to convince me that for many plants it is the answer to the amateur’s prayer.
Simply use a three-inch or four-inch, common clay pot for the plant, put it in a larger pot (the larger the better) and pack the space between with peat moss, keeping it wet. Once it has had a good soaking it will remain moist for several days, giving the plant moderate and continuous moisture, in spite of owners’ forgetfulness. The moisture on the outside of the larger pots provides a goodly amount of humidity too.
A friend had a lemon geranium to which she attached a sentimental value, but the plant decided to die. Before it completely passed out, she took a cutting, which after several weeks in water refused to root. In desperation she sent it to me to see if something could be done, and while it looked hopeless, I cut off the rotted end of the cutting and started it in wet peatmoss. After it showed fair progress, it was put into a three-inch pot with regular mixture, but evidently too soon, the roots not having reached the proper size, and it soon shed its little leaves until only a tiny speck of green, the size of a pin-head, was left. As a last resort the pot was placed in a larger one, the space between filled with peat-moss which was kept moist, and after a few weeks it showed signs of life. It continued to prosper, until now it is about four inches high, with eight leaves, nearly ready to be returned to its owner.
I took four cuttings from a coleus plant, all exactly alike and started them in four pots the same size. Two were left “as is” and two put in double pots, with the result the two latter are now 50 percent taller and more bushy than the others.
Two “patient lucys” that were giving poor satisfaction, are picking up, and actually showing buds in the double-pots.
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