A pot is mostly a drainage decision

Roughly two-thirds of the plants people bring to the shop for diagnosis are not diseased. They are sitting in water. Almost always the cause is a decorative outer pot with no hole, a nursery liner tucked inside it, and a reservoir nobody ever tips out.

Three honest options

Drainage hole and a saucer. Simplest, best, requires you to empty the saucer twenty minutes after watering.

A proper self-watering vessel. A wick draws from a sealed reservoir, so the soil takes what it needs and the roots never sit in standing water. This is the setup we recommend to anyone who travels or forgets.

A cachepot used correctly. Keep the plant in its liner, take the liner to the sink, water it there, let it drain for ten minutes, and put it back dry.

The size mistake

Repotting a plant into something four inches wider gives it a large volume of wet soil it cannot drink through. Go up one inch at a time. A plant that is slightly root-bound is a plant that is still alive.

---

Filed under Vessels · Next: Four hours of light is a budget, not a sentence