How to Plant in a Pot With No Holes

Beautiful pots sometimes lack drainage holes.

Potted plants that fail to thrive and eventually die are most often the victim of over-watering and poor drainage. Excess water gathers in the bottom of the pot, becomes stagnant and saturates the soil, promoting root rot. Plants rarely recover when their roots become afflicted. However, some of the most beautiful pots do not have drainage holes, and if you can't drill a hole or two without risking ruining the pot, double-potting is the answer.

Things You'll Need

• A plastic pot or pot liner with drainage holes, in the same general shape, and slightly smaller and shallower than your decorative pot.
• Lava-type rocks, river pebbles or broken crockery pieces
• Kitchen shears or knife
• Potting soil
• Trowel
• Watering can
• Sphagnum moss (optional)

Instructions

1. Arrange a layer of river rocks, lava rocks or broken crockery in the bottom of the decorative pot.

2. Place the plastic pot or liner inside the decorative pot and on top of the rocks or crockery. Check to see if the top of the pot/liner is at or below the rim of the decorative pot. Add more material at the bottom of the decorative pot if the plastic pot/liner rim is much more than 1" short of the decorative pot rim. Remove material beneath, or trim the plastic pot/liner rim using sharp kitchen shears or a knife if it extends above the top of the decorative pot.

3. Pour potting soil into the plastic liner/pot until it is half-full. Place the plant in the pot, with the root or root-ball centered on the soil. Add or remove soil from beneath the plant until the soil line around the plant (or the place on the stem where the soil line would be, in the case of a bare-root plant) is 2 inches below the rim of the plastic liner/pot.

4. Fill in potting soil around the plant by scooping potting soil into the areas around the roots with a trowel, firming the soil with your hands as you go.

5. Water the potted plant thoroughly with water from the watering can. Allow the water to soak into the soil.

6. Conceal the upper rim of the plastic pot/liner by spreading a layer of sphagnum over the soil surrounding the plant.

Tips & Warnings

• Carefully pull the plastic pot/liner out of the decorative pot before you water to check to see if there is standing water in the bottom of the decorative pot. If there is, set the planted pot/liner aside and drain the water out of the decorative pot, and rinse and allow the rocks to dry, then put them back, and replace the plant. Water less frequently and/or less copiously until you don't have standing water in the pot at watering time. The standing water will harbor bugs and mildew, and will begin to stink if it isn't drained away.

• If you can't find a plastic pot or liner that's a good fit, re-purpose an ice cream bucket, plastic wastepaper basket or other plastic container that's a good fit. Don't forget to cut or drill holes in the bottom before you use it for planting.

• Don't attempt to remedy a pot with no drainage by layering rocks, gravel or sand at the bottom and adding the soil and plant on top of it; it won't allow proper soil drainage, and your plant will still be subjected to water-logged soil.

References

• University of Illinois Extension: Successful Container Gardens
• Savvygardener.com: Houseplants
• Clemson University Extension: Indoor Plants - Cleaning, Fertilizing, Containers and Light Requirements
• "The Houseplant Expert"; D. G. Hessayon; 1992

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish