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Container Gardening

Best pot/drainage solution for 2 large plants in 1 small apartment

8 years ago

I have two tall plants in my Manhattan apartment. A fiddle leaf fig tree that's about 8 feet tall, and a ming aralia that's about 6 feet tall. They are both still in the plastic pots and soil that they came in from the nursery. Both are heavy, as you can imagine.

I want to buy nice permanent pots for these guys, but I need to figure out how to drain these things first immediately after watering. Right now I totally flush each plant, but then need to quickly move the heavy pots onto a fresh plastic trays because the tray it currently sits in fills up with water so quickly immediately after watering. So right now it's a huge pain to water these guys as I'm running around the apartment trying to empty these cheap flimsy plastic trays before the next tray wills up with water. It looks like a Benny Hill routine.

So what are my options here? I was considering buying pots that are decently larger than the current plastic pots, so the plastic pots can just drain into the larger pots. I can have the plastic pots sit on top of some kind of metal tray that allows a good amount of water to accumulate below it. What do you think of this option? What aren't I considering here?

Thank you!1

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Comments (5)

Jay Part Shade (Zone 10B, S21, Los Angeles)
8 years ago
You can look at self watering planters, there's some really nice options out there. Basically, they have a small reservoir at the bottom that wicks water up into the plant.

Either that or saucers or bigger pots, like you're thinking. I put lava rock/kitty litter in the bottom of my big pots (with the smaller pot inside) so they don't have stale water just sitting there. The small pot just sits on top of the lava rock. Pretty easy.
Jef Costello
Original Author
8 years ago
So do you just let the collected water at the bottom of the larger part just evaporate, or you eventually clean it out?
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Jay Part Shade (Zone 10B, S21, Los Angeles)
8 years ago
It evaporates or the smaller pot soaks it up through capillary action and kinda makes the pot a self watering pot. Unless you really overwater, the plant isn't going to be sitting in water. I sometimes use fabric pots on the inside, so the roots prune, makes life easier: http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/root-pouch-grey-fabric-pot-3-4-year/containers
Jef Costello thanked Jay Part Shade (Zone 10B, S21, Los Angeles)
Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
8 years ago
You could do the pot within a pot method. You take a big pot with no drainage hole and then put the smaller pot inside it raised up on bricks or pvc or something creating a large empty space in the bottom. That can give you enough volume to catch the water. If it doesn't hold all the water, you can put a piece of pvc through the interior pot that will give you access to the reservoir. They you can stick a piece of tube down there and siphon off the excess water.
Jef Costello thanked Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
Jef Costello
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you guys. I was just worrying about water accumulating in the bottom pot and going rancid. I DO tend to really flush my plants when I water them.

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