What is a thumb pot?
And, do you guys use azalea pots or clay pots? The azalea pots are the same size all the way down and the clay pots get smaller at the bottom. Which do you all use?
Jesse
Are you thinking about wicking ?
Allison,
Is there a reason you wick when you only let them stand in water for 15-20 minutes.
I thought the idea of wicking was to give a constant supply of water. That's why it doesn't make sense for me to wick when the water is draw up naturally into the soil if it sits directly in water. I leave mine sit until I see the top of the soil begin to darken and then remove them to drain and don't water again until they are nearly dry.
Jan...
I wick them beacause the coiling of the wick in the bottom going up to the top helps with evenly controling the water. I use to have them in wells when I had just a few plants but they got to wet. Now I have my plants on trays with likes together, mini on trays together large pots and so one.Works real well.Also this works well with adjusting light fixtures for proper heights. Some of the large plants are on their own saucer. I am try to empy one light stand just for some of my larger plants growing cazy that need more space as plant leaves should never touch each other. I don't like my plants to be wet in the middle causing their feet to be wet and cold they hate this. Some of my plants not under lights , and large Av's and Epsicas..so on are wicked I don't worry about giving them a cups of water and leaving it there in their holdeds, They are large and drink fast and need a cup every few days.
I also leaves my plants only 15-20 minutes never more than a half hour sitting in water. I don't let the water go all the way to the stop as this can cause my plants to get crown rot and be too heavy and wet. Some smaller plants may not have a full root system filling the pots and they would be just getting extra water they don't need hjst making the soil heavy wet and cold not evenly moist.
I've been doing this for two years and everyone is happy all the time ! Growing crazy and blooming away.
So I don't want to break anything.
Jesse I like azalea pots the best !
I learned from local group plastic was the best to use. White plastic is all you can show Av's in. Except trailers, and gessies .
I guess what works best for you.
That is one thing I was going to ask you. Where do you get the little white pots. I figured that the were azalea pots, and I can find the green ones, although not that small. So where do I found the little white ones? And what do you mean by a "thumb" pot?
Jesse
Jesse going to have to ask Lali to change my favorite pot place in the Sticky she has it as Rare Plants rather than Pots !
Pots and Supplies
http://www.secretgardenrareplants.com/catalog.cfm?category_id=16
Thumb print pots are tiny pots great for micor minis and i like them for suckers and bloom stalk. I've had other kinds before but I like these the best as they have little holes on the side making it easy to water ! You can wick them if you like also.
1 3/4 inch round, black
$.04 each $3.75 per 100 $17.50 per 500
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I love the two inch sturdy rounds. I go threw them by the hundreds great for babies, mini, and Semi-minis most of their life size.
2 inch round, white, sturdy, made to last.
$.07 each $6.75 per 100 $33.00 per 500 $64.00 per 1000
>>>
I also like the 3 oz. sturdy white pots/ they also have white square pots
3" Round, White, Sturdy reusable, made to last.
each. $.09 100 for $8.75 500 for $42.50 1000 for $82.50
>>>These were 35 cents went up but to me thats ok. Only last time I forgot to order white.
Cat. No: 507 BULB PANS
5 inch, white or green
$.45 each $4.40 per 10 $21.50 per 50 $42.00 per 100
I buy other hanging pots and stuff from them too !
Oh yes they sell plant food ! I've used this for years and like it. Has no Urea
Peters Special 12-36-14 African Violet
8 oz. $4.95
I also buy pots here !
http://www.novoselenterprises.com/products/azalea.asp
Azalea Pots 4"
4"x 2.75" Item #
7414 $0.11 Ea
Azalea Pots 5"
5"x 3.5" Item #
7418 $0.17
And so on sizes go up..
They sell round and sqaure pots starting at 2.25 size up.
They sell other pots and trays , Supplies plant lables and more. As you buy more they give you discount buy $75.00 get free shipping.
Oh the pot place shipping only $10.00 for up to $100.00 !
I have bought some pots from Novosel before but I wanted the smaller ones like you sent with the plants in them. I also want white for some reason. I will definitely check this place out soon because I really need some.
What size pot do you use the most in growing your own personal plants? I would like to know so I can sort of gauge what kind and size I will need for mine.
Thanks,
Jesse
Darn - I forgot about secret garden. They are less expensive than Rainbow violets and I just ordered some from Nancy! Oh well.
Secret Garden is the best for pots for the prices even though they all just went up a few cents . I've been buying from them a couple years. Their nice and sturdy.
I use the two inch the most.They are the size for babies. They are perfect size for growing Miniatures for life ( they will need new /or bleach cleaned pot every six months) . A miniature plant is 3-6 inches and does not need a size larger than 2 inches. Semi-minis grow 6-8 inches so many can grow in two inch always or for a long time.
Lot's of times I like ti grow them smaller for fun , or Micro minis I use the tiny pots they've always been called thumb prints .
. I also use a lot of their 3 inch white round, they are sturdy. A Semi-miniature 8 inches could grow to the size needing these and a small standard 9-12 inches across will do great in them also before ever needing a 4 inch. Some may stay in the 3 nch and be happy.
I use 4 inch for most standards. And have bought 25 5 inch as I have a few large plants that I love dearly ( I dont keep many large plants just my special loves ) the roots were hanging out the bottom of the 4 inch growing around the wicks so they are happy in 5 inch.
I am glad I bought 5 inch as there was a hugh difference from the 4 inch just perfect. ! I do use Pan Pots , using them more and more for Streps, epsicas, trailers, and now I'm going to put Begonias and great fun for dish gardens !
Novosel are getting so expensive ( except for th azela 4 and 5 inch pots) I am thinking of not buying the 2.25 and 2.50 pots anymore. Just way too much money for as many as I use.
I am thinking of using , the tiny pots thumb print, 2 inch, 3 inch , pan pots, 4 inch and 5 inch when needed. If I got a plant real big I'd surly be thrilled to put it into a 6 inch pot :))
Also I like when ordering from Secret garden is you can order one pot of a hundred pots. I recommend ordering what you can afford at the time but to save on shipping buy them by the hundreds . Like you know you will have a lot of babies from leaves or minins for example order a couple hundred of the two inch at a time. $6.75 per 100 is great for sturdy white pots, you don't have to order 500 either you can order 200 what ever your needs and pocket book can handle at the time !
Updated sticky this am.
Thanks Allison, that really helps. I guess I will be making an order to secret garden very soon.
Jesse
Your welcome Jesse ! I get excited even when I get a new order of pots :))
I know what you mean Allison. Anytime I get something for my plants, I get so happy.
Jesse
Me too ! Love it when Hubby makes me fresh soil which is like ones aweek I use a lot. I'll be getting some made today ! I've been trans-planting babies like crazi !
I am going to see if I can go to Bluebird in the morning to get some more pots and trays. I have decided that I like watering my leaves by hand. I do not do well with the method of adding water to the tray and then emptying it in 30 minutes. I make so much of a mess doing that, even with little drain holes in them. So I hand water all of my leaves now, using a bottle I bought from Sally's beauty supplies. It is a plain bottle with a fine tip on the end, the kind used to put color on your hair. With it I can water them and not spill water all over the leaves. I keep two of those filled with water and Optimara plant food all the time.
My wicking is going okay but I do not like the way I have it set up. It is too hard for me to get to the back plants the way it is currently. What I have right now is trays lined up beside each other with one long piece of grid across 4 trays. I think what I am going to do is to buy some PVC pipe and cut it into pieces about 2" thick, and sit them down in the tray and cut the grid to the size of the tray and sit it in there. That way if I can't reach something at the back of the tray, I can slide it out a little. I have not done this yet, it is just an idea in the making. It will look similar to the humidity trays that you can buy online but at a much cheaper price. The PVC is the best thing that I can thing of since it is not that expensive and can be easily cut. I think one ring in each corner and one in the middle will work nicely. I guess we all learn and adapt as we move forward in life which is what I'm trying to do.
Any ideas or suggestions about what I have said? I'm open to suggestions from you guys all the time. I am always willing to learn something new.
Jesse
I enjoy watering plants and try to check and examine touch care for talk to each plant at least every couple days ! By having the trays of plants way up high way in back taken down for me I can do this . ALSO each time I ship, or my plants are growing they are re-arranged to be with plants in like size pots and also determines how high the lights are. I want to hve as much contact with each plant that I can.
Everyone's system is different ~ Just have to play around for what is best for your plants.
Your idea sounds good to me, Jesse. I have the same 4 tray to a shelt system and it is hard to get to the back on the top shelf. I was considering doing the very same thing.
Nanna
I like the hair coloring bottle idea!! will have to give that a try!
Nanna,
Right now I'm using the weak black trays but I'm going to be ordering the nice green ones when I get more money. I have to get things little at a time but it is worth the wait. I felt of one of those today at Bluebird's and they are very durable and strong. I would have gotten some from them but they don't sell them. So I'm going to use my black ones with lids for my leaves and then the tough green ones for my wicking trays, well they call them humidity trays online.
Jesse
Wicking Bumps
I just set up all of my AV w/ wicking. I tried the yarn first and after 3 days, the yarn inside was still dry. So I then tried some nylon string I had. I used this because an Optima AV I bought that came in it's own wicking pot had this kind of string as it's wick. In addition this pot had what looke dlike a piece of interfacing fabric that was the same size as the pot bottom. It absorbed the water and spread it to all of the holes and the wick went into one of the holes. It keeps this AV perfect!
Most of my AVs were in terra cotta pots and since I wanted to get them out of these, I was able to wick these easily. For the others that I was not repotting I decided to fish the wicks thru the soil. I did this by using a metal crochet hook for the bigger pots and a big plastic cross stitch needle for the small pots. It worked great! All are in my green Parks trays w/ the lighting grate just soaking up the water!
Excellent ! My favorite thing to wick with use to be Mason String. Bright neon pink was my favorite color ! Many people use the nylon and I've been told it works super great. Yarn did well for me too. It's fun to play around until you find the method that works best for your enviroment !
Parks have some nice trays. Nanna and Jill and Jesse set up some super super plants stands with trays for wicking the threads are someone in this forum I'll have to see if I can find some.