“What about pots plunged or placed on sand so that the soil in them is in capillary contact with the sand? I used to have ordinary terra cotta pots plunged in sand (placed over the soil) and was of the opinion that the sand bed blotted up excess moisture after watering, while providing some moisture when things started to get dry. The key element being that the pots had no crocking in the bottom and were wrung into place so that there was capillary contact between the soil in them and the surrounding sand bed through the central drain hole in the bottom of the pot.” Dear Rodger: I owed you a response. Hopefully everyone has read that useful Jean’s Canadian resource on water vertical movement in pots, specially the many newcomers to this exciting site (PBS of course). For one thing. nothing can beat growing bulbs in the ground, say in raised beds for instance. But it has practical problems that are not easy to overcome. One step forward is the use of pots plunged in several possible materials. The aim of this plunging is to mimmick soils’ mostly constant temperatures. It also provides a very effective protection against slight frosts.. Plants (except those from deserts) hate changes and clearly prefer to live in environment conditions that remain rather constant. It is not that the plunge material blots the moisture from terracotta pots. Moisture escapes through the porous walls wether plunged or not. The reason for using a plunging material is another as said above. Most often people fails to see that this release of moisture thru terracotta creates a refrigerating effect that lots of plants find very stressing. Obviously tulips, hardy Ornithogalums, Gageas or Fritillarias will love this coolong process but Zephyranthes, Cypellas, Geissorhizas or Hippeastrum can only really stand it while they can. They are a lot better in plastic than in terracotta. But since plastic does not lose moisture thru the walls water remains in them for longer. As a result, most bulb and succulent growers have heard that plastic is bad. What is bad is the practice of using unsuitable draining holes. One of the greatest bulb experts in the world, Jane McGary, uses plunge beds for her bulbs and has written a most informative article on this system. I have used this system for over 20 years with success but now I have moved to a different method (really big containers) that gives amazing results. All the best Alberto _________________________________________________________________ Consigue aquí las mejores y mas recientes ofertas de trabajo en América Latina y USA: http://latam.msn.com/empleos/