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Container Gardening

Question: Container Gardening and Wood Decks.

15 years ago

The hubbie & I just had a hardwood deck installed on the back of our house. Yesterday I mentioned to him that I'd like to put some potted plants out there. He mentioned a concern of his. Namely, that have containers of plants on the surface of wood would over time create water stains and damage.

Yes, we are planning to stain our deck yearly. But I was curious to hear what you container gardeners might have experienced having potted plants directly on the surface of your wood decks.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Thoughts?

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Comments (5)

justaguy2
15 years ago
I have a number of containers on my wood deck. It is pressure treated lumber that we waited a year to stain. As a rule I haven't noticed a problem from the containers. Where I notice a problem is the bird feeders with black oil sunflower seeds. They aren't kidding when they call them black oil. They leave black stains that have to be scrubbed off prior to a restain.

What I do with containers on the deck is I place them all on 1" tall wood supports (they are just cheap wooden stakes sold in 12 packs or such). This allows me to water the containers, let them drain and then spray the deck underneath the containers so no fertilizer or such has the opportunity to do any damage. I am not at all consistent about it, but the deck is 3 years old and no noticeable damage from the containers.

I would definitely recommend elevating containers an inch off the ground on a wood deck exposed to the sun anyway as the wood can get really hot and travel right into the container
greeness
15 years ago
We've had several half barrels filled with annuals on the deck for years now, and they haven't done much damage. They aren't moved around a lot, and of course, the snow and rain and our dogs are probably more of a threat to the deck than the plant barrels!Thanks for the tip about elevating the containers; it would ensure good drainage, too.
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Hi, Laurie, Welcome back to roses. I can think of a couple of things that might help. Several years ago, the District Director of Buckeye District was working to see what roses she could recommend for pot culture (and some she couldn't). She found an aerosol spray/fungicide that controlled Black Spot very well. Her name is Terri Lady and if I were you, I'd contact her through the Buckeye District to see what she recommends. For dryness, I use water retaining granules in my potting mix; they give me wiggle room when I don't realize how dry the world has become. How cold will your patio be? Colder than ground level. And is the patio concrete or wood? IF it's wood, you'll need to elevate the pot and saucer above the wood. We had a place in the French Quarter in New Orleans and pots sitting directly on wood are a sure way to get the wood to rot. In NJ it wouldn't happen in one year (as it did in New Orleans, even on treated wood), but your landlord would be happier with pots elevated eiter with pot lifts or with pots on saucers with wheels. (Plants have better form if they can be rotated, as well.)
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nicole__
15 years ago
Yep, pots sitting on the deck will stain it. I use pot feet. It raises the pots up and the staining only occurs where the pot feet touch the wood. It's minimal staining, the feet give better air circulation so it's a win...win situation.
wanderingbluemu
15 years ago
I rent, which makes my containers pretty much my only way of gardening, and both of my decks have been untreated wood 2x4 deals left by landlords who cared more about having a "balcony" to put on their lease than making sure it was a usable one.

That being said, I usually put drip trays under my pots, and used old wine crates (the wooden variety. sometimes liquor stores toss them out, and then I rescue them) to lift up my pots... I only was in either of these places for a year to three years, but I never got any staining. I'm sure if I had, I would have heard no end of it from the landlord.
roninnaper
15 years ago
It sounds like combining these good ideas would make sense: Use drip trays under pots, and elevate them with the 1" stakes or "pot feet" to get good circulation under the pots. Moving the pots around the deck occasionally would also help keep the circle under the pots from having a dramatically different color stain from the rest of the deck.

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