Drainage issues after repotting

 


I bought some young tomato and strawberry plants today to grow in
containers as
I have a small garden. I planted these out using grow bag
compost specifically
for fruit and veg into a rattan hanging basket (3
tomato plants into a 14") and
the strawberry into a tub on its own. I
watered them both until the soil was
soaked as I was advised to
encourage root development. The problem is that
neither the basket or
the tub appeared to have any water dripping out of the
drainage holes
once watered (about 6 holes in the bottom of the tub and 3 slits
made in
the lining of the rattan basket) and the water just seems to be sitting
on the top layer. I don't know what I've done wrong and am quite
concerned as I
think I ruined my tomatoes a couple of years ago by
leaving them in waterlogged
soil.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Also an indication of how much
water I
should be giving each plant daily would be really helpful as
there doesn't seem
to be a definitive answer to this on the net and from
past experience I don't
think my instincts are too reliable in the case
of gardening! Many thanks :)




--
Livs

 



Sounds like you need to re-pot with the bottom inch (2.4cm), or more, in
rock and sand, in order to keep the drains open.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 


Thanks Billy, I've done this now with all pots, putting a layer of
broken
terracotta at the base and creating more drainage holes.
Unfortunately it seems
to have made no difference. The water just seems
to be sitting on the top layer
and not even reaching the drainage holes.
I don't know if its the fact that I
mixed in some water retaining
granules or that the compost was not bone dry when
I first poured it out
of the grow bag and into the pots??? Or posibly I'm jut
giving too much
water but I'd say I used a quarter of a small watering can on
each this
tme and still the same problem. Grrrr :(




--
Livs

 



Makes no sense, unless the granules are swelling and creating an
impermeable layer. I've read that the granules can hold up to 500 times
their own weight in water. Try it without the granules. See how the size
compares now that they're wet, to when you put them in. If it doesn't
drain without the granules, it has to be the potting soil, or something
else is hermetically sealing the drain hole.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 



How much of the water retaining stuff did you use?  Offhand, it sounds like
_way_ too much.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G