{"id":7358,"date":"2014-08-15T01:16:48","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T08:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=7358"},"modified":"2014-08-13T05:25:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T12:25:37","slug":"tips-for-plant-pots-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/tips-for-plant-pots-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant Pots Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Pots for mini Hosta by brianpettinger, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/6017372920\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6133\/6017372920_e41faff6b6.jpg\" alt=\"Pots for mini Hosta\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n&#8216;Plant pot for dwarf Hostas to keep slugs at bay.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h2>Pots and Weather<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Use clay feet to keep pots off the ground so they do not get frozen causing the bottom fall out.<\/li>\n<li>To protect root balls in pots you can wrap them in bubble wrap or several layers of hessian.<\/li>\n<li>Use frost proof pots if they are to stay outside through winter.<\/li>\n<li>Use a saucer, dish or tray to catch excess water. This saves good fertilized water from running away.<\/li>\n<li>Do not put pots in windy spots. Tall plants will blow over quite easily as the wind acts like a lever and fulcrum.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Watering and Feeding<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Peat is hard to re-wet so use a wetting agent or add moisture retaining granules.<\/li>\n<li>I add granular feed to compost if the plant is to remain potted for more than 3 months. They also need a liquid feed when plants are in growth.<\/li>\n<li>Use John Innes No 3 for fruit trees grown in pots and other robust shrubs etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Broken pots by brianpettinger, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/3954616795\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2508\/3954616795_b414a8cc82.jpg\" alt=\"Broken pots\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Pests and Problems<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Lily beetle can be stopped by picking off the red adults and squashing them. Use an insecticide as eggs will be in the compost and a new generation will arrive next spring.<\/li>\n<li>Insects that sting can be a problem on pot plants near your outdoor seating. If you suffer avoid being too close to lilies that attract most insects.<\/li>\n<li>Read about <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=10559&amp;action=edit\">getting Potbound<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Vine weavill can&#8217;t swim. Keep compost wet or construct a moat by using a tray or saucer.<\/li>\n<li>Slugs can climb up pots. Put a copper ring or Vaseline around the pot top.<\/li>\n<li>Steralise pots with Jeyes fluid after they have been used but before they are put away or replanted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>General Pot Tips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Crock the bottom of the pot with bit of broken terracotta pot to help drainage.<\/li>\n<li>Terracotta pots dry out quicker particularly in sun or windy sites.<\/li>\n<li>Anchor valuable pots if they are likely to be stolen.<\/li>\n<li>Freshen up the top soil in the pot with John Innes if the plants are heavy feeders.<\/li>\n<li>Groups of pots or large individual pots look more attractive than a clutch of smaller plastic pots.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Fucshia pot by brianpettinger, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/6016821981\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6143\/6016821981_2d2cc0df24.jpg\" alt=\"Fucshia pot\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plant pot problems with weather, pests, watering or feeding then try these tips&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}