Lighter and easier material to use in the bottom of plant pots
by
Sue Lopez
Instead of clay shards or small pebbles, try using the packing 'peanuts' that come in boxes, to put in the bottom of pots, when planting. This makes the pots much lighter (and easier to move) and the peanuts provide excellent drainage and do not degrade.
Related Discussions
Suggested Project Book
Great idea! For our larger pots we always used old plastic water bottles to take up a lot of the space at the bottom.
In large pots, I have used the empty containers from annual flowers, like the 4 or 6 packs or even bigger. Turn upside down , place a layer of landscape fabric over the containers, and fill with a little potting soil, place your flowers/plants in and fill in with potting soil!
Great at use of multipurposing pesky packing peanuts!
Most packing peanuts now are biodegradable and melt when exposed to water. I think someone told me they are made with baking soda. I'm not sure if that would be good with plants. The only way to tell if they are the old kind is to take a couple and put them in water and see if they dissolve.