How to choose the right pot for an indoor plant
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How to choose the right pot for an indoor plant
Most indoor plants that die slowly are in the wrong pot rather than the wrong spot, and it's usually one of two things, either the pot is far too big for the root ball or there's no way for water to get out of it. Both end up in the same place, with mix that stays wet, roots that start rotting, and a plant that looks like it needs more water when it needs the exact opposite.
Size, and why bigger is not kinder
Go up one size at a time, so a pot a few centimetres wider than the root ball rather than the big one you liked the look of. The reasoning is simple enough once you've seen it happen, because roots only draw water out of the mix they're actually sitting in, so all the extra mix around the outside of an oversized pot stays soaked for days with nothing pulling on it, and that wet ring is where the rot starts.
A plant that has filled its pot tells you the same thing from the other direction. Roots coming out the drainage holes, water running straight through without wetting anything, or the whole root ball lifting out as one solid block, and it's time to go up a size.
Drainage is not optional
The pot needs a hole in it. There's no material, no mix and no watering technique that replaces one, and putting a layer of pebbles or broken crockery in the bottom of a pot with no hole doesn't create drainage either. It just lifts the waterlogged layer up a bit and leaves you less room for roots.
What does work with a decorative pot you've fallen for is leaving the plant in its plastic nursery pot and dropping that inside. Lift it out to water, let it drain in the sink, and put it back. You get the look, and the roots get to dry out between drinks.
What the pot is made of
Terracotta is porous, so it breathes and it dries out faster, which makes it the forgiving option if you're a heavy handed waterer and the wrong option for anything that wants to stay moist. Glazed ceramic and plastic both hold moisture for longer, so they suit ferns and the thirstier plants, and they're the ones to be careful with if you water to a schedule rather than to the pot. Plastic is also light, which matters more than people expect once a pot is full of wet mix and you want to shift it off the windowsill.
Metal and timber both turn up as planters, and both want a liner, because metal cooks in a sunny window and timber sits wet and rots from the inside out.
Match the mix to the pot
The pot and the mix work together, so a plastic pot with a dense moisture holding mix in it is two decisions pulling the same way and it's usually one too many. If you're going with plastic or glazed ceramic, open the mix up with a bit of perlite. If you're in terracotta, a standard premium mix is generally fine as it comes out of the bag.
Saucers
Use one, and then empty it. A saucer that sits full of water is the same as a pot with no hole, which is the thing the hole was there to prevent.
Shop related products
- Brunnings Premium Potting Mix 36L. The general indoor and outdoor potting mix.
- Brunnings Perlite 5L. Mix it through to open up a heavy mix in a plastic pot.
- Brunnings Cactus & Succulent Potting Mix 5L. Free draining mix for anything that hates wet feet.
- Brunnings Orchid Potting Mix 15L. Chunky bark based mix for orchids and epiphytes.
Did you know we also stock plastic pots in 18cm and 28cm, gardening gloves and Gardenmaster hand trowels in store. They're not on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.
The pots and the mixes are in the garden centre, and if you're not sure what size to step up to, bring the plant in and we'll hold a couple of pots up against it.
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I own more pots than I own plants and I have completely made my peace with that.
Candeece
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