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Cacti & Succulents

fill a pot

14 years ago

i have a pot about 1meter hi and 1/2 a meter a cross. i am goin to plant some succulents in it. since i dont have that much soil to fill it with i was thinking of stufing most og it with something (possibly brockli boxes or newspaper) filling it up to the top with gravel or sand and placing the pots in the sand would this work any suggestions would help.

regards matt

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Comments (5)

brich
14 years ago
You might want to go to a local landscaping store and get some bark to fill it up, that way it won't be that heavy and it'll still look nice. I'm afraid if you use something like newspaper it'll just settle over time (especially if you top it with sand) and look like crap.

Another thing you might want to do is take some other large plastic pots (if you have some lying around) and put them upside down in the big pot. It takes up a lot of space, and keeps the weight down.
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
14 years ago
Many folks suggest emtpy water/soda bottles - such as two-liter bottles.
Water should drain right around them.

Josh
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I stick evergreen branches in mine. In fact I'll be headed out this weekend to pick the branches. I try to get a variety of evergreens. For December, I add some branches that I spray paint red or silver. In January I add some little snowmen on sticks. I add some hearts for February. I get rid of them in March and put my pansies out. We're in the planning stages of a garage renovation. When we widen the driveway, I'm thinking of some large cedar planters to form the boundary between lawn and driveway. I'm thinking of some dwarf conifers in those planters. I would put annuals around the base in the spring, summer and fall. And for the winter I could decorate like I do my front step containers.
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Coleus needs much bigger pots. They grow in one season up to 3 feet tall. You'd do best with tiny filler annuals like in the picture, no more than 2 to a pot. You may have to water twice a day in full growth. They do look pretty. Sometime during heavy growth you'll have to prune back plants for fresh growth (takes 2 weeks to come back). Picture has dianthus "pinks", lobelia, tiny marigolds, alyssum, pansies, etc. I also grow browallia and diascia from seed which would do well in shade. I grow these in ever increasing shade on my deck with success...not as lush as the photo, but pretty and colorful.
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When I first moved to this apartment, the soil was horrible! I couldn't afford soil amendments, so I just piled up leaves. One bed grew quite a few earthworms, so I transferred them into other beds and covered them with leaves. In the courtyard, I just tossed all my kitchen scraps onto the ground, mostly around the bananas, and also put my clippings of things around everything. I grew pigeon peas and trimmed them regularly, and threw those onto the ground around a lot of plants. Three years later, and things are growing like mad with no fertilizer except for the worms. It takes time to build soil, and mine still isn't as rich as I'd like it to be, but it's getting better every year. The worms definitely have helped. I want to start a worm bin with two Rubbermaid containers just to see how it goes. My red wigglers seem to be very prolific.
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Your seedlings look good. I've had very good results with what is commonly referred to as a 5-1-1 mix. Since you already have the Promix maybe you could add some perlite of Pine fines to it. What is 3 in 1 mix? I'd keep the compost out of the containers. [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xxii-dsvw-vd~2842847[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xxii-dsvw-vd~2842847)
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plant_junkie
14 years ago
I agree with both comments. Take 2 liter bottles or some water bottles plop em in there throw some bark in between them. I would, personally, put a sheet of newspaper on top pf the bark and bottles then put the soil on top of the newspaper. What this will do is create a barrier between the dirt and bark. Since the bark is far more porous, the paper will keep the dirt for settling into the bark. After awhile the paper will break down and your soil is already settled. I do this with all my succulents when seperating the soil from the drainage rock. Works beautifully.
xerophyte NYC
14 years ago
I have used styrofoam peanuts to take up space while keeping weight down.
cactiman_2009
Original Author
14 years ago
thanks every1 do i have to use bark?

regards matt

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