i am thinking of buying a 6' section of 10" pvc pipe and mounting it vertically in my living room and using it as a flower pot. I want to cut holes in the pipe and glue 90 degree elbows into the pipe...then fill the pipe with potting soil and root vines in the elbows so that the vines will grow up and cover the pipe. Does anyone have an advice about this idea?
6 foot pipe as a flower pot?
You'll need a coarse soil that holds no perched water, or you won't be able to keep the soil evenly moist.
You'll need to water from the top and allow excess water to drain out the bottom into a reservoir so it can be discarded. The water in the reservoir should be isolated from any contact with the soil to prevent the higher concentration of dissolved solids in the reservoir from moving toward isotonicity with the salts in the soil solution.
Al
Thanks! Do you think this will work? Will it be a constant maintenance nightmare? What does perched mean? Would common potting soil work? What would you suggest for a medium?
I don't know what you have available there, but this is what I would use (see below). It is a mix of crushed granite, conifer bark, and a calcined (baked at high temperatures) clay granule. It's large size allows water to move freely through the soil. The bark and baked clay hold moisture in tiny internal pores, but virtually no water is held in macro-pores between the particles. This allows the soil to remain fairly evenly moist, and prevents perched water at the bottom.
Perched water is water held so tightly in small pores between fine soil particles that the force of gravity isn't strong enough to overcome the capillary attraction.
Al
I think you could try it with regular potting soil; if it doesn't work out then try using specialized mixes. If the soil moisture becomes a problem or if watering constantly makes a mess, there are vining succulants that are a little slower-growing but would eventually get the same effect and would require less watering.
Thanks! Have you known/seen anyone to do something like this?
Lots of people do strawberries & succulents in the manner you described.
Al
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