On 25 Jul 05 at 14:18, Alberto Castillo wrote: > ...In both cases, shallow or deep pots, most of the volume is > useless as it is saturated with water. The problem, already > discussed, is how to have this excess water leave the pots. Alberto and I have disagreed somewhat on this point before, but I'll repeat: The solution to saturated pots is *very* simple[1]: make sure there is a capillary connection from the pot to the substrate (soil, sand, plunge bed, whatever). In The Good Old Days when (some) alpine houses had terra cotta pots in plunge benches, the pots were carefully "wrung" into place to ensure capillary contact between contents and the plunge material (usually sand). Also in this situation, crocking was not put in the pots as it would prevent capillary contact. In really desperate straits, as for example large hanging pots of fuchsias, I have even resorted to inserting a length of coarse jute string into the drainage holes. Similar to the ancient story of stealing a huge vat of wine by using a string... IIRC, Alberto pointed out that pot temperature remains an issue, that terra cotta provides evaporative cooling which may be undesirable. Hence plastic is preferable, at least for pots not plunged. I won't argue on this point. Some of you may have seen the dog-and-pony show put on by Phil Pearson and Steve Doonan of Grand Ridge Nursery, Issaquah, Washington. This talk (well worth attending if you have a chance) emphasizes the need to have lots of oxygen at the roots of alpines, and touches on the relation between water retention and pot geometry. I suspect our bulbs have the same issues. Footnote [1]: Of course, if you don't over-pot in the first place, the problem won't arise, but there's a natural desire to give the roots lots of room. And, barring saturated soil, many plants do much better in big pots than small. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island