It's what you don't know that you don't know that bites

[wordwiz]

I heard this theory years ago and find it true today. I know that the medium in containers gets dry and needs to watered more so than plants in dirt. What I didn't know, and didn't think about was the amount of heat plants in an upstairs room would get at the bottom of the container.

To wit, I had this tomato plant that while being the best looking among six, simply would not convert blooms to fruit. The ones beside and behind it did, but this one didn't. Even in another room, under a different light, the result was the same - lots of blooms, no fruit. And by no, I mean zero.

So I removed the foliage, chopped it up and added it to my compost bucket. Then dumped the container's soil mixture into a huge container. Much to my surprise, the medium at the bottom of the 11" container was bone dry. It had lots of roots and the medium in the middle and top had plenty of moisture, but I learned that one has to find a way to keep the entire medium moist.

I don't see this as a limitation of growing lots of plants indoors, only something to take into consideration. Build a frame, line it with plastic, and every so often fill it with water.

Still learning after all these years!

Mike

 

[boutros]

Weird. You think all the big pots are doing that, or not wondering cause the others are producing? Wonder if a wick woulda helped the one in question.

I get you on the bottom watering though. I need to get some bigger trays for all my one gallon peppers.

 

[wordwiz]

I have another plant that seems to be struggling so as an experiment, I use a small piece (3/4" by 1/8") piece of metal and drove it into the dirt in several different places. Then watered it - heavily! Had a stake in the pot that I could not come close to getting more than about six inches deep - it now goes to the bottom of the pot. Yeah, I killed some roots but what the heck, they will decompose!

Everything I am doing upstairs now is nothing but an experiment to see how maters grow, so even if the plant dies, I'll have lots of green material to add to the compost bucket!

Mike