Garden

[gardenman]

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@NickNack wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

Honestly? I use nothing these days and my plants do great. I also don't recommend the moisture retention soils. Like an earlier poster said, they don't hold up well for me. They degrade into a muddy, mucky mess. If a pot has big enough drainage holes that I'm worried about soil escaping, I'll just put a small piece of paper toweling over the hole. By the time the paper towel rots away, the plant's roots will have grabbed the soil and will keep it in place.

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@gardenman   Drywall mesh tape is good to put over the drainage hole, too.  I use that in all of my pots indoors and outside.

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That would work also. I just use paper toweling as I always have it handy. Most of my potted plants are fast growers and by the time the paper towel rots away, the roots will have grabbed the soil. It's one less thing I then have to pick out of the compost in the future also.

[Rockycoast]

I have used broken claypot pieces, plastic water bottles, Styrofoam pieces, driveway gravel, and now plastic annual pots in the bottom of our planters. All have worked well. I use what I have on hand.  I don't change out the soil every year. Our planters are very large. Replacing all that soil is unnecessary and costly. I replace a third of the old soil every year with new. After 3-4 years the planters get a total clean out. Scrubbed and new soil.

[wagirl]

I use packing peanuts for drainage----not a deep layer but it seems to work well, not heavy to move either. Was using shards of clay pots and small rocks but boy was that heavy.