Houseplants and plants on the balcony or terrace are usually cultivated in flower pots or planters. To prevent waterlogging in the pots, which most plants don't get, planters have a drainage hole. In addition, special drainage can be installed before planting.
How to create drainage in a flower pot?
Drainage in the flower pot prevents waterlogging by allowing excess water to flow away. Place a pottery shard or a pebble on the drainage hole, fill in 2-3 cm of expanded clay, gravel or shards and cover with a fleece.
Why drainage is useful against waterlogging
Waterlogging in the flower pot causes the plants to die. The water cannot drain away when watering or after a rainstorm, it fills all the cavities in the pot and floods the entire potting soil. The roots of the flower can no longer breathe, they die and rot. Since the plant hangs its head, this can be interpreted as a sign of too little water, so you water and make the condition worse instead of resolving it. A good remedy for waterlogging is drainage in the flower pot.
Drainage against waterlogging
In order to avoid waterlogging in the planter, you must first make sure that there are one or more drainage holes in the container. To ensure that the holes do not become clogged with soil, drainage is laid before the potting soil is added.
Material for drainage
Several options bring good results with drainage:
- expanded clay
- a pottery shard
- Pebbles
- Pumice gravel
Sand is not a good material for drainage as it does not create any cavities through which water can drain.
Introduce drainage into the flower pot
Drainage is only effective if there are one or more drainage holes in the planter. This means that excess irrigation or rain water can drain away unhindered. Drainage is helpful so that no earth is washed out when draining and the hole becomes blocked.
- First place a pottery shard or a thick pebble on the drainage hole. Here you can easily recycle old or broken pots.
- Then fill in a 2 to 3 cm thick layer of expanded clay (€11.00 on Amazon), gravel or shards. Please note that the weight of the pot increases significantly with gravel and shards.
- As a cover, place an appropriately sized piece of fleece on the drainage layer. The fleece serves as protection from soil and filters the water that runs off. This prevents the cavities in the drainage from becoming blocked. Repotting is also made easier because the potting soil does not mix with the drainage.
