I put rocks just for compaction. After a year your soil will be so compact it will clog the drainage holes! With rock the soil will not clog your drainage hole. I have been planting for 30 years and raised 1,000’s of healthy plants in pots with rock in bottom of pot.
Also at the 44 second mark you can tell the water that splashed out of pot had enough velocity that it did not land in your dish! The experiment is still good!
I feel like this solves the question on drainage. But what others argue with the rocks on the bottom and drainage is how long the roots of your plants will be in deeply saturated water. They say the plant can be more prone to root rot by raising the line. I’m curious about how rocks benefit the drying of the soil. I feel as if drainage isn’t entirely the issue w rocks but how and/or if it provides quicker drying than if you were to have soil straight to the bottom. (Less scientific: I also just think it’s cute so I like to do it, plus all the plants I’ve done it with are doing fine.)
I guess we could put bamboo skewers in pots to monitor the moisture and see which one takes longer to dry out. It may be as simple as more compost means retaining more water which leads to taking longer to dry out.
From my gardening journey over the past two years, I've come to the conclusion that this is probably another old-wives tale that has been passed on by people misinterpreting the original intention. Plants grow in soil which is generally 92-98% sand particles of varying sizes, the rest rotting organic matter, aka compost, taken from the surface further down by worms above. Last year I grew sunflowers in compost, watering them every two days during heat waves; this year I allowed one to grow unaided as a seed in bare soil: zero watering even in this drought over the past three weeks, and it's still thriving and growing new seed heads.
Perhaps you can use coffee filter to separate the drained water from soil residue to get more accurate numbers. Also let both sit for a much longer time. 😊
Wait what. The whole point would be that you use stones with pots that have no holes on the bottom. You should use a fabric between the soil and stones. So water can pass under the soil but roots cannot go there. This way roots wont be rotting in water. While water that is down there can produce some moisture to soil if you forget to water your plant for long time.
The hole is what helps drainage. You can get pots that have a reservoir but it would need a method of capillary action to get it back up to the soil if you just tried it with rocks
@@tecmow4399 I get it. But why would anyone ever but stones in to a pot that has hole in it. I think the whole stone idea could be useful in huge pots without holes in it. I have one of such pots. Massive 2 m hight plant with huge pot. it always seems either too try or too wet. i think adding some stones could be usful for it. its obvious that you dont want to use stones when u have holes, it just makes no sense in this case. So why even test it.
Okay I dont see why rocks would so forcefully create such an even line, so as to raise this zone of saturation, but even if it did... just scatter the rocks around? Create an uneven bottom..??
Or just don’t bother with the rocks at all? Unless they’re mixed into the potting mix. The point I’m making is that they don’t aid with drainage and that why people say to put them in at all
So you contradict youself with your alive experiment...This year I bought a small volcanic tuff and will try to grow vegies in 2 pots with them...and other growing bags without them. I will update you about the results ..( Before I used river tiny stones usually like a mulch or on the bottom of some rare plants where a pot with tens of holes )
Logically it should help but logic dont always mean anything. Cause logic can be flawed by not knowing all the info. I just wanna know what will cause i drowned a plant and it seems like overeatering is more dangerous than underwatering. Undereatered plants for me always came back. Overeatered.. I watched one die from big and beautiful to no leafs in hours
Often because the roots have completely rotten in an overwatered plant by the time you notice symptoms. So at least when an underwatered plant shows signs of dehydration its root system is still intact.
@@tecmow4399 yep thats what happened to me. I even re potted the plant entirely in new soil but the damage was done. It was a stick by then 😂 Is there any good method of draining it? I heard mixing organic material into the soil like leafs. And i heard of this charcoal stuff that soaks up water. Also sorry about the typos. My keyboard lags bad on youtube lol.
Sir I had used compose , small ammount of sand and garden soil but haven't put any gravels or stone to cover the tub hole will my plant face any problem due to this
Thanks for the explanation. But you haven't factored in the soil settling and compaction over time. Rocks create air pockets and avoid compaction, allowing for water to flow freely as the media it travels through is less dense. Ps learn to aim, I hope you pee sitting down. Lol
Sat down as we speak! 😅 if you had soil (rather than potting mix) then that might happen. But it can still happen in the same way - just above the rocks.
I think your experiment doesn't work because you're using the same amount of compost in each pot. The correct experiment would be same volume of substrate in each pot, meaning ( pot 1 = 5 inches of compost + 0 inches of gravel for example ) and ( pot 2 = 3 inches of compost + 2 inches of gravel ). And I think it's not much about how much water gets out from the pot but more about how far is the so called "water table" from the surface of a homogeneous soil. You can maybe measure that with a moist meter... It's probably better to use tall enough pots with a remarkable difference in the substrate mix to actually be able to measure the difference ! At least that's how I understand it from this scientist explanation ua-cam.com/video/UwmKetirxbA/v-deo.html
It certainly could be drastically improved as an experiment 😅. Certainly having another container that has the same volume of substrate overall would be sensible. Although given that the difference was tiny anyway I don’t know how much could be demonstrated by only weighing it. Tbh I don’t think the effect is highly significant in small pots. I saw that explanation too - I love her channel! 😁
@@tecmow4399 Yeah, practically, a thin layer of gravel doesn't affect much your drainage. I'm just saying if you want to demonstrate that gravel, at worst harms your drainage, and at best doesn't do anything, this is actually the right experiment ;) ua-cam.com/video/o86pTAjqlDE/v-deo.html
I put rock in to keep the soil coming out the hole! No other reason.
That’s a good enough reason
Thats brilliant actually. I had soil all over on my first grow xD
I put rocks just for compaction. After a year your soil will be so compact it will clog the drainage holes! With rock the soil will not clog your drainage hole. I have been planting for 30 years and raised 1,000’s of healthy plants in pots with rock in bottom of pot.
Also at the 44 second mark you can tell the water that splashed out of pot had enough velocity that it did not land in your dish! The experiment is still good!
Isn't it more about keeping the roots out of the water so the plant doesn't start to rot? Idk
I feel like this solves the question on drainage. But what others argue with the rocks on the bottom and drainage is how long the roots of your plants will be in deeply saturated water. They say the plant can be more prone to root rot by raising the line. I’m curious about how rocks benefit the drying of the soil. I feel as if drainage isn’t entirely the issue w rocks but how and/or if it provides quicker drying than if you were to have soil straight to the bottom. (Less scientific: I also just think it’s cute so I like to do it, plus all the plants I’ve done it with are doing fine.)
I guess we could put bamboo skewers in pots to monitor the moisture and see which one takes longer to dry out. It may be as simple as more compost means retaining more water which leads to taking longer to dry out.
Good Point - bottom pebbles are about Aeration , not just drainage
From my gardening journey over the past two years, I've come to the conclusion that this is probably another old-wives tale that has been passed on by people misinterpreting the original intention. Plants grow in soil which is generally 92-98% sand particles of varying sizes, the rest rotting organic matter, aka compost, taken from the surface further down by worms above. Last year I grew sunflowers in compost, watering them every two days during heat waves; this year I allowed one to grow unaided as a seed in bare soil: zero watering even in this drought over the past three weeks, and it's still thriving and growing new seed heads.
Rocks are there to prevent root curling at the bottom of the container and to prevent drainage holes from getting clogged
Perhaps you can use coffee filter to separate the drained water from soil residue to get more accurate numbers. Also let both sit for a much longer time. 😊
Yeah overall not the best way to demonstrate with multiple variables. Should’ve let them sit for a lot longer. The filter is a great idea! Thank you 😊
are you telling me, this whole time the debate around rocks at the bottom of pots, has been about pots with drainage holes??? 💀
I think you’ve spotted a hole in the logic
Can i put pumice or lava rock at the bottom of planting pots instead of gravel. Is it safe for plants?
I drown a plant once. my soil surned to straight mud. Suffocated the roots pretty sure.
Sounds like it. The roots need some amount of air circulation which the constantly wet soil doesn’t allow
A layer of gravel does help to Anchor the pot . Important in windy conditions
Wait what. The whole point would be that you use stones with pots that have no holes on the bottom. You should use a fabric between the soil and stones. So water can pass under the soil but roots cannot go there.
This way roots wont be rotting in water. While water that is down there can produce some moisture to soil if you forget to water your plant for long time.
The hole is what helps drainage. You can get pots that have a reservoir but it would need a method of capillary action to get it back up to the soil if you just tried it with rocks
@@tecmow4399 I get it. But why would anyone ever but stones in to a pot that has hole in it. I think the whole stone idea could be useful in huge pots without holes in it. I have one of such pots. Massive 2 m hight plant with huge pot. it always seems either too try or too wet. i think adding some stones could be usful for it. its obvious that you dont want to use stones when u have holes, it just makes no sense in this case. So why even test it.
Okay I dont see why rocks would so forcefully create such an even line, so as to raise this zone of saturation, but even if it did... just scatter the rocks around? Create an uneven bottom..??
Or just don’t bother with the rocks at all? Unless they’re mixed into the potting mix. The point I’m making is that they don’t aid with drainage and that why people say to put them in at all
Ohhhh. The water rocks issue.
So you contradict youself with your alive experiment...This year I bought a small volcanic tuff and will try to grow vegies in 2 pots with them...and other growing bags without them. I will update you about the results ..( Before I used river tiny stones usually like a mulch or on the bottom of some rare plants where a pot with tens of holes )
Logically it should help but logic dont always mean anything. Cause logic can be flawed by not knowing all the info. I just wanna know what will cause i drowned a plant and it seems like overeatering is more dangerous than underwatering. Undereatered plants for me always came back. Overeatered.. I watched one die from big and beautiful to no leafs in hours
Often because the roots have completely rotten in an overwatered plant by the time you notice symptoms. So at least when an underwatered plant shows signs of dehydration its root system is still intact.
@@tecmow4399 yep thats what happened to me. I even re potted the plant entirely in new soil but the damage was done. It was a stick by then 😂
Is there any good method of draining it? I heard mixing organic material into the soil like leafs. And i heard of this charcoal stuff that soaks up water.
Also sorry about the typos. My keyboard lags bad on youtube lol.
Sir I had used compose , small ammount of sand and garden soil but haven't put any gravels or stone to cover the tub hole will my plant face any problem due to this
It will be absolutely fine 😊
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Thanks Pedro 😁
Erm, you mean stones don't you?
🤣 gravel, stones or rocks. Whatever you wanna call ‘em!
Thanks for the explanation. But you haven't factored in the soil settling and compaction over time. Rocks create air pockets and avoid compaction, allowing for water to flow freely as the media it travels through is less dense. Ps learn to aim, I hope you pee sitting down. Lol
Sat down as we speak! 😅 if you had soil (rather than potting mix) then that might happen. But it can still happen in the same way - just above the rocks.
I think your experiment doesn't work because you're using the same amount of compost in each pot. The correct experiment would be same volume of substrate in each pot, meaning ( pot 1 = 5 inches of compost + 0 inches of gravel for example ) and ( pot 2 = 3 inches of compost + 2 inches of gravel ). And I think it's not much about how much water gets out from the pot but more about how far is the so called "water table" from the surface of a homogeneous soil. You can maybe measure that with a moist meter... It's probably better to use tall enough pots with a remarkable difference in the substrate mix to actually be able to measure the difference ! At least that's how I understand it from this scientist explanation ua-cam.com/video/UwmKetirxbA/v-deo.html
It certainly could be drastically improved as an experiment 😅. Certainly having another container that has the same volume of substrate overall would be sensible. Although given that the difference was tiny anyway I don’t know how much could be demonstrated by only weighing it. Tbh I don’t think the effect is highly significant in small pots. I saw that explanation too - I love her channel! 😁
@@tecmow4399 Yeah, practically, a thin layer of gravel doesn't affect much your drainage. I'm just saying if you want to demonstrate that gravel, at worst harms your drainage, and at best doesn't do anything, this is actually the right experiment ;) ua-cam.com/video/o86pTAjqlDE/v-deo.html