Grow Your Own Magazine

When I water my pots in the greenhouse the water seems to run out very quickly. The plants (toms,cukes peppers and aubergines) are planted in a 50/50 mix of growbag compost and a mix of manure and mushroom compost. The posts are standing in growbag trays which fill with the water and it can go murky. I don't know if there is a solution to this problem - maybe not now anyway but suggestions for the future would be good. I am thinking of filling the trays with growbag compost and standing the pots on them.

Is the compost dry or damp? If the compost has at some time got dry, it will have pulled away from the sides of the pot and the water will just run away without dampening the compost. If this is the case, push the compost into the sides of the pot and water again, This should hold the water long enough to make the compost damp. Other solution is to stand the pot in water until the compost soaks it up. As for the murky water, that will probably be the peat in the compost.

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Always, always have a saucer or tray underneath your pots to conserve water, and to stop run-off (like Norm describes)

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I would change your watering habit for a while - try very gentle, slow watering from the top to try and allow the compost to take it up more evenly. Also, add some more compost to fill in any gaps between the compost and the pot sides.

Pots don't always cope well will a lot of water in one go - it's better to take your time.

Thanks, everybody for the advice. I am using growpots with my pots and I thought they were supposed to let the water filter through slowly but no such luck in my case. I don't remember having such a problem like this in previous years. I have decided to go ahead with my plan to put growbags on the trays and then stick the pots on top of them - a bit of an expensive solution but the growbag contents will eventually come in handy on the allotment. I shall also water slowly and often to make sure the compost does not dry out.