WAS Anderson deep propagation flats; Now lowering the water table in pots
Jane McGary (Wed, 21 Oct 2015 10:23:45 PDT)

I don't use many band pots (the term for the kind of open-based pots
being discussed here), but when I do, I crumble some oak leaves coarsely
to put in the bottom, since I don't have screen handy to cut up in
little squares as done by growers who use band pots a lot. I don't think
this creates a perched water table in the mix I use, which does not
contain Perlite, and there are always plenty of oak leaves around here
(the neighborhood is known as Oak Grove and was originally a Quercus
garryana savanna plant community, with many of the old oaks still
around). Any slow-rotting leaves would probably do.
Band pots come in quite a range of sizes, but they are made of rather
brittle plastic. Growers who need large, sturdy pots with a great deal
of air circulation might be interested in a kind of larger pot used by
field nurseries for young trees, which are heavy black plastic with
large openings all over; they sink these in the soil and root prune
around them to lift and deliver the trees. I have a few left over from
tree planting and will use them if I need to grow a big, rather tender
epiphytic plant that has to be moved indoors in winter. Probably the
suppliers mentioned here earlier sell these also.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA