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Florida Gardening

Coffee Filters in Bottom of Pots

Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)

13 years ago

Are any of you doing this? I realized over time how much soil I was losing out of the bottom of pots - especially newly-planted or transplanted plants, where the roots were not yet holding the soil. I was looking for something cheap to fix the problem. Thought about screening material, but that is more than I want to spend. Then I read about coffee filters - perfect! Less than a penny each. Maybe this idea will help you?

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Comments (9)

CaptTurbo
13 years ago
I wouldn't want anything to slow down the drainage. In fact, I just began using wicks hanging out of all the drain holes to help draw down the perched water table. Seems to be working well.
pabrocb
13 years ago
How about used nylons or panty hose? You would have to be creative, but it's cheap. Tropiflora staff told me to tie bromeliads to trees with pantyhose.

CB
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Thank you for the quick response Ron, Jeff, Beachplants. These units were cheap (the small ones for the 8" pots were only $1.25) so I put them on a couple re-pots as an experiment, but I still left a swatch of screen underneath it (over the big drainage hole). Beachplants - their website seems to allude that's what the roots are supposed to do; i.e. find the spot with the air pockets. I do not know how critical that really is, especially with my most mature jades having survived very well in less than ideal conditions many years ago when I knew absoutely 'zero' about their care. It may take 2-4 years before these pots that I used them on need to be re-potted, and to the point where the roots clog the base, so I guess I have two 8" pots that will be marked "long-term experiment". Jeff - yes, I do not use rocks, gravel, or clay shards (anymore) as I found out the hard way (drainage problems). I do use the stainless steel screens. I never tried newspaper. Does that not disintegrate? My mix is VERY fast draining. Though not as exotic as I have read a lot of you guys have. And I have never used MG mix for anything, so I guess I'm safe there. :-)
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Hi! I think I am using a similar method and it seems to be working. (I have had one batch of seeds that keep getting some kind of bacteria or mold on them but they don't seem to be rotting. They have not sprouted yet although they have been in the coffee filters a couple of weeks.) I clean them off daily and give put them in new filters. I have tried all sorts of things to prevent the mold from reappearing but nothing has worked yet. I may just pitch them but I am just wanting to see if they will sprout. None of the other seeds have had this problem so it just may have been an old or bad batch of seeds. I put the seeds in a covered glass dish with 2 coffee filters on the bottom and one on the top. I then moisten it but not to the point of standing water. Of course I have also pre-soaked the seeds as they were raisin dry. It takes much longer if the seeds are crinkled. I have some that have been taking 3 weeks or more to sprout. once sprouted I put them in plastic sandwich bags with miracle grow seed starter soil. I moisten the soil first then place the seeds inside and close the bag. Making sure not to have any standing water in the bottom of the bag. Soil is very moist but not sopping wet. When the first green shoot appears then I open the bag. I will water the seedlings when the bag is lighter in weight and looking somewhat dry. You can see roots appearing in the bottom of the bag. Always make sure you are not giving them too much water as there are no drainage holes in the baggy. Cheers!
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Comments (4)
I do love how active and informative this forum is. I can always find an interesting topic, or just a few people being crazy, as I'm found most of us can be. :) And, you can pot up moldy sprouts? See, I learned something new! Also, I'm sold on cool weather greens in pots; so nice to walk a few steps out the door to gather them, rather than trekking down to the veggie beds way out back. BTW - for potting soil, I used potting soil from last summers pots, and mixed it with some mature compost. Worked well, although now I have lots of tomato seedlings coming up... Carol
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Comments (20)
#15. Strain the liquor out of a broken bottle. Go ahead and laugh, but I did just that. I had been out of work for 4 months, and after 5 interviews and a ridiculous wait for a "yay" or "nay", I was hired. To celebrate, I bought a bottle of Ciroc and a bottle of Hypnotiq... that's about $50.00. I get home, and as I'm headed to the front door, I DROP the bag and both bottles break. I almost cried. The Hypnotiq was completely gone, (I hope my Hostas enjoyed the runoff...), but the bottom third of the Ciroc bottle landed standing up, and there was still vodka in there. Thus, the 15th use for a coffee filter!
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hester_2009
13 years ago
Just find someone who is rescreening their pool cage! I did, and have a good supply of old screening which works great cuz you can cut to fit!
Hester
puglvr1
13 years ago
I also use window/bug screen to line the bottom of all my containers...doesn't have any affect on slowing down the drainage at all and keeps the potting mix from coming out...especially on my 24" containers. The holes on those big pots are the size of a quarter. I buy a roll at HD or WM and it goes a long way...of course if you find someone that's giving it away...even better!
Pieonear
13 years ago
I've been using coffee filters for years and they work just fine. You'll never know till you try. :)
reallyrandy
13 years ago
I use either coconut burlap or fiber from the husks. All natural and free, plus it allows maximum drainage.
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow, Randy. Where do you get them for free?! I would love some of those!

Carol
fighting8r
13 years ago
Yeah I put a small piece of paper, newspaper, something like that sometimes. It biodegrades before long anyway, and has not seemed to cause a problem with lack of drainage. Things always dry too quickly anyway for me. Coffee filters seem perfect.
reallyrandy
13 years ago
I live in Hollywood so I have coconut trees everywhere. Since you're in Jax, I bet you can use some of the burlap from a sabal palm.

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