Is it only me ??
Dogbowl
Posts: 88
I have purchased several hanging baskets with little windows thru which one places the roots of the plants then secure them with grill. Trouble is the plants towards the bottom always look the worse for wear and often die off within weeks
I thought it was lack of water ( and it may be ) so I sprayed the bottom ones with a bottle but still not great results
Any ideas Please
0
Posts
What plants are you putting in there?
I have those in half baskets and dont like them, I found the best way round it was to line them with compost sacks, black side out, cut slots for the lower plants over the windows.. they hold the water much better like that. There is a water chamber at the bottom so they stay moist, but I did find it drained out of those big window holes.
I've been using these for several years and have had reasonable success but they do always need a lot of watering and it annoys me that a lot of the water pours out through the holes so I like Lyn's idea of lining them with compost sacks. I'll definitely try that this year.
I always plant up my baskets Easter, then they are well grown by the end of May ready to go out. Mostly used those wicker type, but they start falling to bits after a few years, So I have bought wire the past few years, some ready shaped liners like brown card, which work well, and flat liners that look like carpet, circular, you have to cut to fit baskets, they had cut outs for side planting, never in the right place, first the soil fell out the holes, then as you said the plants died, inspite of twice daily watering, they were still bone dry. What I do (and will carry on with) is overplanting the baskets, lots of trailing and hanging stuff, hide the baskets that way.Just watching a Blue Tit pinching the coir from a planter outside the conservatory. Cheeky!
The type of plant I am using are your general hanging basket flowers, Pansy,Million Bells,Petunia's,Begonia's. nothing flash
You would think the amount of water I have been using on the baskets the water would work it's way down to the windows / plants. But I have not seen anybody else mentioning the fact that it does not in any reiveiws
I will give them the plastic liner treatment next time but it does kind of make the purpose of these type of baskets redundant
Oh just in case we were wondering I also use the water retention crystals but with little or no effect
Cheers
If it dries out, the water will run down the edges and out the bottom without penetrating the rootball. Perhaps give it a soak in a large plastic container occasionally? 10 minutes underwater won't likely harm the lower plants.
Have also tried the water retaining gel, made no difference. Bought some water retaining mats one year, they were really expensive, laid in the bottom of the basket, look like a larger version of the things the lady in your local Postage office, used to wet her fingers (for those of you old enough to remember!) Also made no difference whatsoever. Have just bought 2 quite large, very pretty, green verdigris baskets on e-bay, no more expensive than wicker or plastic, b ut a lot nicer looking.
I have this type and found like you Dogbowl the ones at the bottom did not do well, the rest did great.
I am trying the Plantopia baskets this year for the first time, so far they seem ok i planted them early May and they are slowly growing. I take them down once a week as they are too high up for me to water and saturate the soil before re hanging them. I will see how they go in the next few weeks and add another photo.
Lining with a bag does seem like a good idea i will try this next season, i find that water does run out quickly. I noticed you can buy a well that fits inside to ensure water gets in to the bottom..... has any one tried this adaptor?
These baskets do make for great big balls of colour in the Summer. I have lined mine this year with coco liners and the water doesnt seem to drain out of the holes.