Module 2 · Water — by the plant, not the calendar
lesson 2.4
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Lesson 2.4 · 5 min
Drainage holes are non-negotiable
After this you will never keep a plant in a pot with no way for water to escape.
A pot with no drainage hole is a bathtub with no plug. You water it, the excess has nowhere to go, and it collects at the bottom where the roots sit. The lower roots stay permanently soaked and suffocate — you are back to the number one killer, this time built into the pot itself.
The drainage rules
- Every pot a plant grows in should have at least one drainage hole.
- Love a decorative pot with no hole? Use it as a cover — keep the plant in a plain nursery pot with holes and lift that out to water and drain.
- Always empty the saucer or the cover pot after watering; do not let the plant sit in the runoff.
- The plant grows in the pot with holes; the pretty pot is just the outfit.