My question is, arent we supposed to be making plant care easier, not harder for people!? Self watering pots can be great BUT ESPECIALLY for my beginner plant parents, they can be a bit tricky. If you continue filling, the plant will keep taking up water causing your plant and those roots to die. So it’s still very important to check your soil all the way through, before refilling. As far as these specific pots, I’m not a fan at all.
Big box stores don't care about the plant being healthy in the long-term. They just need to keep it looking nice long enough to sell it. When possible, always try to pick local nurseries instead. ✌🏻 They actually care about customer loyalty.
My husband worked at Lowes in the outdoor lawn and garden center, and he said when he started, employees got an hour long training video for how to care for different plants (including indoor ones), but no one remembered anything. Big box stores also have insurance on their plants, so yeah, they don't really care if they live or die in the end :/
Absolutely true! I believe that another reason why these big companies dont care for the plants they sell is that a lot of amateur plant parents won't know that they need to look into these pots and will care for them like how the shopkeepers instruct them to. This will result in their plants dying soon, blaming themselves for not having a green thumb and keeping on buying from these companies everytime the plants die.
Worked at the garden center and this could not be more true. Most customers don’t buy plants that look bad even if they’re healthy so the second it looks bad we mark it down and sell it on clearance
@@itsmeorwhatever627😂 “local breeder” yeah imagine forcing animals to reproduce so you can make money of it. Sounds like a caring human…how about local animal shelter
@@baret8349 I don't know how, but I managed to kill two Bonsai trees a few years ago. Now my house is full of thriving plants 😍🌿.....and a fake bonsai for now😅🌳
@baret8349 spider plants are usually easy, but I have one that has been a bit finicky over the years. I've had it about 3 years, but for a while it wasn't growing or making babies. Surprisingly, it actually needed better soil (fertilizer). Then I left it outside and a freeze almost got it, but I nursed it back. Then we moved and the new neighbors gave us a kitten. The kitten started chewing up the babies so I put it outside. The spot I put it was too bright and it got sun damage. Now it is back inside. I need to put it where the kitten can't get it. It's on a hook in the kitchen but the kitten climbs the counter and swats at it.
As someone that uses self watering pots for both carnivorous and other plants, I can agree there's a certain way to use them, trick is do not refill the water until it's dry below and then wait a bit longer, because if it's constantly wet the roots will eventually die to root rot. (It's best to use them for plants that like moist soil )
@@Yoyocreative I use a combination of long fiber moss, peat moss and perlite while having the bottom peat the middle the combo of long fiber and peat then the top being long fiber my carnivorous plant bog absolutely loves it (since peat is actually decade moss it makes a perfect bog set up) and again I do recommend waiting a bit before rewater since Venus flytraps can get root rot if not allowed any air in between waterings and the water gage is a big help
Me either. They wanted some dry soil for sure, but they're so bright and healthy still! Would've definitely started dying in a few weeks tho because of all that moisture 😱 that was terrible to see
My plants are doing so much better since I am watching your channel. Once you explain things it makes so much sense! Thank you for your hard work! 😊 You rock!!
I bought a spiral cactus that was like this. I was like you poor baby 😢😂!!! And funny enough I bought a pothos that was dry as a bone. She looked withered and I’m sure that’s why they put it on clearance but I put her in leca for self watering and you’d think it’s a whole different plant she’s so lively and green now lol. You’re creating an army of plant rescuers lol ❤😊!!
I've rocketed up to 23 pots of various plants since I started watching your videos. You've saved my babies from surviving despite my misguided care or from dying slowly, and I've had the confidence to take more on.
You have helped me so much in just the short time that I have found your channel! It was always a gamble if a plant would live when I brought it home. You have given me hope! ❤
You’re the worst! AND I LOVE IT!!!❤❤ You make me want all the plants and to repot them all and play with them all the time. Thanks for inspiring me and reminding me when I’m in the black hole of TH-cam to at least go water my plants and repot them when they need it. You a gem.
Self watering pot is a big no for me. No hard feelings, i just love watering my plants. Just a quiet and calm moment with yourself and thirsty babies, watching them suck up the water up their pot hole😂 It cures my anxiety better than talking to my therapist.
I use a self watering pot for my Golden dewdrop because the plant needs to be dried out or else it rots .water it once a week and it's good . Won't work for temperamental plants.
You've helped me so much on my plant parent journey. My (surviving) plants are thriving now. Almost feel ready to give my big herb garden another chance!
On two separate occasions I've bought peperomias from my local supermarket and each time they had root rot and died within a couple of weeks (I didn't know to look out for it) 😭 they let them sit in water all the time, very sad
I had a geranium plant planted in the ground. A weed kept coming up and I couldn’t get to the root of it. After watching your videos, I was brave enough to dig up the entire plant, wash off the roots and saw the weed was entangled in the root of the geranium. I was able to easily remove the big weed and replant the geranium. It’s so much happier now! Thank you for teaching me. Lakewood CA
Im just getting into plants and i have those pots in my cart. Ill take em out lol. And let me just say i love you ithink you're plant teachings are sometimes hilarious 😅
I went to home depot the other day and the succulent and cactus plants section they watered everything and left plants drowning and soaked. Literally there was a plant that you can't get water in the tubes or it'll rot they were all rotting and had algea and mush. I felt so bad cause they are just going to throw all those plants away at the end of the week.
Ok self watering pots work. Those that use strings. In fact I do a lot of my own self watering pots with cotton strings, since I’m working Full time and also a mom I don’t have time to water my plants on daily basis. My plants are outdoors. My alocasia, aglonema, pothos, they love the self watering pots. The humidity is perfect for them. And also it’s constant humidity, I often kill plants with irregular watering schedule since I’m busy, so the self watering pots work. When done properly.
I have a ZZ plant from a big box home improvement store and it came in a self watering pot. It has been doing great on my desk at work. I didn't think it would work out, honestly, but she's happy!
Lmao I must’ve gotten lucky because ive bought that SAME Aglaonema from that SAME pot in Lowe’s about 6 months ago, never changed the pot or soil, and it’s still growing strong!! ❤
True. This was me with self watering pots, and I almost ended up with root rot for my poor African violet. Yes, they are helpful, but need to make sure that the roots and soil have the time to completely dry out before you refill the self watering pot
Do you do live videos with Q and A ? Because girl I have so many questions about my plants and their behavior 😉 I need you to come over and look at my 37 plants and diagnose them !
I just got some plants from a store and I'll like to give it a try to rescue them, any tips Fiddle leaf fig: green big leaves but top is all bent Cactus: it's still green, no root rot and is soft
I exclusively use self-watering pots and/or pots with trays underneath. I go through and fill all the trays about once a week or so, the soil takes up the moisture on its own. I allow 3-4 days between the trays drying out before refilling.
I love those self watering pots for my orchids in leca. Leca doesn’t break down over time like regular medium so it makes the self watering setup totally viable. It doesn’t work so well with organic potting mediums.
I recently bought some self-watering pots more because they were on sale for $2 each, decent size and I plan to treat them like regular pots and drill into the bottom tray (effectively removing the self-watering function). If I ever want to use that feature I can plug up the hole with extra plugs I have from a previous pot. I think this can work for those of us wanting to avoid throwing away things that are still technically usable / if we're on a tight budget.
Thank you!! I thought this was Great.!! Call it Wick & Grow. Well yes, my plant/plants definatly were drowning. As a beginer, maybe a little further along now, I gotta have more faith in myself & my skills. Thanks Krystel. I try staulking you every day*lol*😅
Hi thanks, Love my plants. But I love to go backpacking in July/August as well. :| So I went mostly with rock gardens and succulents.... it worked well, but many fatalities with the others... My beautiful "City Lights" Dahlia... died. Hoping her tubers will live. Bless.
I work at a big box store. Im the person that waters the plants. The biggest issue is they dont teach about what plants to water every day and what plants not to. I take care of all the self watering pots, and I've been lucky to keep them alive for a long time. But i learned a trick with those pots. Never add water to the pots until it's completely dry in the bottom and not until the soil has dried. I also dont fill it with too much with water just enough to the top of the little window. I learned this from watching your videos about watering plants, and it's worked really well.
The only plants I keep in self-watering pots right now are my spider plants and my inch plant. They are in the sort of self-waterer that use a cotton rope to draw small amounts of water up into the soil and I always make sure to let them stay dry for a few days before refilling when they do run out. Ideally I'll refill the reservoir when the plants juuuust start to droop a little. Most plants I wouldn't dare to keep in a self-watering system just because it's so hard to control.
After a through soaking I always repot store bought plants. They are usually always root bound and some are planted in plain ol cocoa fiber that will become hydrophobic and actually rob the plants of moisture over time.
Bought this same plant and it immediately started dying until I walked by it one day and saw the ring around the roots. I cut the plastic off and repotted it and now it is beautiful!! I even got a second one as a rescue because it was suffocating!
I think it depends on the plant. My birds nest fern has gotten HUGE & is really thriving. It’s in this very same pot & has been since the day I purchased it
Yea. I've been trying to make my one store-bought pot work, but the problem I find, is that you can't see when water has pooled to the bottom. I made a similar contraption (pretty basic), but used translucent containers I had that stack perfectly to leave about an inch underneath for a sort of reservoir
I got a self watering pot but it has 2 layers. One that slips in to another and I use it for orchids but this way. I drill a lot of holes on the inner part, put the orchid in and when it is watering time, put water in the outer layer and the inner slips right in pushing water inside the medium and towards orchid roots. I leave the water in for maybe 3 minutes, drain the water out and assemble the pot again. Worked very well to have a nice looking pot for orchids.
I have quite a few plants in pots that I've made into self watering. Interestingly, I just purchased a plant yesterday, a ZZ, in a pot just like that😆. I'm planning to separate it into 2 or 3 plants and place them into one of my self watering pots in a few days, letting it adjust in it's new climate.
😂 I have that same plant and pot. I found mine at Lowe's on a clearance rack. I put a flat screwdriver on the stove and burned 6 drainage holes in the bottom of the pot and potted the plants in another pot. I had to clip the basket pots off the roots as well.
Africa Violets, they are essential, but I have had NO luck with other plants in them, they keep it too wet. I prefer pottery to keep roots from being too swamped. If you're gone for a while, you can put a plastic deli container full of water, and run a wick from the bottom of your pot to the water in the deli container, I use strands of new cotton mops. It keeps the moisture more even and excess is evaporated.
Videos like this is what’s really taught me how to let my plants thrive. I got a Venus fly trap recently - HUGE. It was very quickly declining, so I had assumed I overwatered it (yes I use distilled). Turns out it was trapped in a tiny netting, the roots couldn’t move at all.
I loooove my self watering pots! If you’re reading this and newer to them but want to try them out, I started with the kind that’s made of clay! There’s the pot you put your plant in that’s unglazed clay, sometimes a Terra cotta, and that sits in another reservoir which you put water in. If not that kind (they’re pricey), try one that has a reservoir underneath the pot that the plant is in DOESNT TOUCH, but instead you put a cotton wicking string in the pot the plant is sitting in and it sucks up water as your plant needs it. I find the kind that has a basket that sits a little in the water is way harder to maintain and it’s super easy to under or over water. 90% of my plants are in self watering pots-either store bought or DIY-and it’s the only reason they’re still alive. 😂 the only ones that aren’t are my snake plant (bc they like to be neglected and dry out) and my plants on moss poles (which I’ll be converting to self watering poles soon!).
Yea I had to learn this the hard way when buying my first plant a couple of months ago. They had a zz plant in that EXACT pot. Again, it was my first time buying plants, so within a week I had root rot
Oh wow! I was just given a few of these from the recycled section at the store. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them so I didn’t install the wicks and basically have them as cute outer pots.
I've brought some self-watering thingies for my indoor trees after several died because they like to stay wet and we have had super high heat where I am. So balancing keeping them wet and general life with several extra need house members, I just couldn't keep up.I mourn my loss, but hope I can save my others. I will not, however, be using them on any of my other plants because most things hate it. Freaks me out how so many places are so hype about them when very few plants can realistically tollerate constant wet...
My dumb cane did well in a self watering pot like that for years. But it must depend so much on the type of plant and how much string they put through the soil. I also would let it run out of water occasionally. 😊 I now have a Ficus in that pot, but I dont think it likes it like the dumb cane did. May be time to retire it! 😆😆
When i re-potted my mums orchid there were TWO nursery pots embedded in the roots 😩 it's now in a much bigger pot and sending out roots uncontrollably 😂 flowered beautifully too, poor thing was dyed blue when i bought it! Blue!
I only use them for propagations. I testing it out since I heard plants in pin lowers pest rest and realized very quickly that I absolutely hated them. I’d rather deal with a random pest now and then than killing my plant quickly.
The thing I hate with the big box stores is that they HAVE to have their plants in a decorative pot and charge you more for it. Ma'am, I've got better pots at home, please just let me buy the plant at a decent price.
i work at a garden center for a big chain store and sometimes we receive those plants with the planters broken so i would mark them down which made them reasonably priced. turns out i’m not allowed to do that anymore though they still want us selling plants with no pot for full price
It's heartbreaking to see the condition of plants in big box stores! Please consider supporting local and native plant nurseries. It's a great way to improve plants' well-being and contribute to preserving native species
I use self watering pots for certain plants like peace lilly and arrow head plants and the ones that are ALWAYS thirsty. But most plants aren't happy in these. I wait untill the soil is dry, then I fill the reservoir with water.
Thank you for your Channel. Started to repott all my plants because of your Informations and hope they gonna get better now because they were more like in a surviving fight than just beeing Alive 😅 Edit: what soil do you use?
I rescued that same plant from lowes in a self watering pot. I had to do the same thing, I have it rerooting in just water, I used the self watering pot for my peace lilly. I love Agleonemas and I hate seeing them suffer
Since i was unfamiliar with the concept of self watering pots and the first one i bought didnt have any water in it, i thought it was a weird cover pot and used it like that 😂the plant is still thriving
I hear about these being terrible, so I'm so confused why two I have from Walmart are actually thiving in them? One is an angel wing begonia and the other is a Raven ZZ plant. Is it because of the plant type, that I waited until everything dried out before watering the bottom, or have I just lucked the heck out??? They've been the only ones I'm cautious about repotting because they are doing so good!
Orchids and Hoyas love self-watering pots but cactus and some succulents hate this method since it requires dry soil for a few day after the the last watering
My question is, arent we supposed to be making plant care easier, not harder for people!?
Self watering pots can be great BUT ESPECIALLY for my beginner plant parents, they can be a bit tricky.
If you continue filling, the plant will keep taking up water causing your plant and those roots to die. So it’s still very important to check your soil all the way through, before refilling.
As far as these specific pots, I’m not a fan at all.
Me either an hate the plastic cages or paper plugs. 💚
they got the sale after that they don’t care
Can you do a anthurium video I have a pink anthurium I've struggled with for years but seem to be okay with bromelaids
Question? Lol what kind of plant is that it's pretty 😍 😅
@@dianaduarte3891it looks like a dracena
Big box stores don't care about the plant being healthy in the long-term. They just need to keep it looking nice long enough to sell it.
When possible, always try to pick local nurseries instead. ✌🏻 They actually care about customer loyalty.
My husband worked at Lowes in the outdoor lawn and garden center, and he said when he started, employees got an hour long training video for how to care for different plants (including indoor ones), but no one remembered anything. Big box stores also have insurance on their plants, so yeah, they don't really care if they live or die in the end :/
And sometimes not even that. I find way too many sad looking plants at big box stores. Completely withered leaves.
Absolutely true! I believe that another reason why these big companies dont care for the plants they sell is that a lot of amateur plant parents won't know that they need to look into these pots and will care for them like how the shopkeepers instruct them to. This will result in their plants dying soon, blaming themselves for not having a green thumb and keeping on buying from these companies everytime the plants die.
Worked at the garden center and this could not be more true. Most customers don’t buy plants that look bad even if they’re healthy so the second it looks bad we mark it down and sell it on clearance
@@itsmeorwhatever627😂 “local breeder” yeah imagine forcing animals to reproduce so you can make money of it. Sounds like a caring human…how about local animal shelter
You have seriously gotten me into plant care. I used to kill my plants as soon as I touched them but now they are beautiful and healthy thank you
Same!
Me too 😩😩. I killed a Bonsai last summer 🥺…now I’m going on a year with a healthy spider plant.
@@baret8349 I don't know how, but I managed to kill two Bonsai trees a few years ago. Now my house is full of thriving plants 😍🌿.....and a fake bonsai for now😅🌳
@baret8349 spider plants are usually easy, but I have one that has been a bit finicky over the years. I've had it about 3 years, but for a while it wasn't growing or making babies. Surprisingly, it actually needed better soil (fertilizer). Then I left it outside and a freeze almost got it, but I nursed it back. Then we moved and the new neighbors gave us a kitten. The kitten started chewing up the babies so I put it outside. The spot I put it was too bright and it got sun damage. Now it is back inside. I need to put it where the kitten can't get it. It's on a hook in the kitchen but the kitten climbs the counter and swats at it.
I’ve been replanting my houseplants and now everytime that I shake the pot to settle the new soil, I hear you saying “SCHIMMMY THAT SOIL!” 😂❤
Yay for the schiiiimmmmmyyy 🥹
And "drown that hoe" is also stuck in my head whenever I -force- introduce someone to growing plants.
Same 🤣🤣
Same 😂 lol
As someone that uses self watering pots for both carnivorous and other plants, I can agree there's a certain way to use them, trick is do not refill the water until it's dry below and then wait a bit longer, because if it's constantly wet the roots will eventually die to root rot. (It's best to use them for plants that like moist soil )
Agree, my Hoyas would hate it but my alocasia might love it
Ooh! Using those for venus fly traps would be perfect! 😮
My african violet loves it
Yep use leca! It works great!
@@Yoyocreative I use a combination of long fiber moss, peat moss and perlite while having the bottom peat the middle the combo of long fiber and peat then the top being long fiber my carnivorous plant bog absolutely loves it (since peat is actually decade moss it makes a perfect bog set up) and again I do recommend waiting a bit before rewater since Venus flytraps can get root rot if not allowed any air in between waterings and the water gage is a big help
Can't get over how beautiful those roots are
Root porn right there 😍
Me either. They wanted some dry soil for sure, but they're so bright and healthy still! Would've definitely started dying in a few weeks tho because of all that moisture 😱 that was terrible to see
My plants are doing so much better since I am watching your channel. Once you explain things it makes so much sense! Thank you for your hard work! 😊 You rock!!
I bought a spiral cactus that was like this. I was like you poor baby 😢😂!!! And funny enough I bought a pothos that was dry as a bone. She looked withered and I’m sure that’s why they put it on clearance but I put her in leca for self watering and you’d think it’s a whole different plant she’s so lively and green now lol. You’re creating an army of plant rescuers lol ❤😊!!
Honestly your last sentence is a goal haha. We could reslly heal the earth
Your videos gave me the confidence to go dig in them roots and repot my plants that needed it. Now they're going amaaazing
I've rocketed up to 23 pots of various plants since I started watching your videos. You've saved my babies from surviving despite my misguided care or from dying slowly, and I've had the confidence to take more on.
Love your videos, your energy is fantastic! Your tips are so helpful. Thanks for another great one!
You have helped me so much in just the short time that I have found your channel! It was always a gamble if a plant would live when I brought it home. You have given me hope! ❤
I just found you and I’m hoping your knowledge will help me learn how to better care for my house plants, especially my late dad’s spider plant!
Yess my favorite videos you do are ones like these where you get in those roots, this is what made me get into plants ❤
They’re great with leca, though! The only time I use self watering pots is for my semi-hydro plants
You've helped me be more confident with my own plant care. Taking the plants out of their pots to check the roots etc.
Please tell your parents I think they did a wonderful job raising such an adorable, inspiring and intelligent women ❤
Why just don’t appreciate her for being a nice person
@@bonitobonita9263 Because she’s soooo much MORE. Are you jealous?
You’re the worst! AND I LOVE IT!!!❤❤ You make me want all the plants and to repot them all and play with them all the time. Thanks for inspiring me and reminding me when I’m in the black hole of TH-cam to at least go water my plants and repot them when they need it. You a gem.
Thank you so much for this info. I watch a couple of plant channels, but your channel is at the top of the list! You are the best!👍🏽💕
THANK YOU for talking about this
Potted plants are often put in the wrong pots!
“In big box stores they struggle with watering” understatement of the year 😂😂😂
Self watering pot is a big no for me. No hard feelings, i just love watering my plants. Just a quiet and calm moment with yourself and thirsty babies, watching them suck up the water up their pot hole😂 It cures my anxiety better than talking to my therapist.
Yes, yes, yes. Ü
So.. You really don't have anxiety. It's a serious mental illness and not some "haha watering plants cUrEd my aNxIeTy"
Use more coco mixed in your soil you'll notice bigger plants also but will have to add nutrients. But I'm all for bigger plants
I use a self watering pot for my Golden dewdrop because the plant needs to be dried out or else it rots .water it once a week and it's good . Won't work for temperamental plants.
I can't wait to be a plant mom.I'm happy I came across your channel
It's the most wonderful hobby. I'm sure I have WAY TOO many, lol. But, I love 'em all!🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
I love going around and checking all my plants they are like my babies I love watering them
When I'm down , the Shimmy makes me giggle😅 thank you ❤
You've helped me so much on my plant parent journey. My (surviving) plants are thriving now. Almost feel ready to give my big herb garden another chance!
On two separate occasions I've bought peperomias from my local supermarket and each time they had root rot and died within a couple of weeks (I didn't know to look out for it) 😭 they let them sit in water all the time, very sad
Maybe you can lift the plant out and cut the roots as soon as you get home.
Hugs and HUUUGE thanks with healthiest roots from East Tennessee!!
Thank you so much for making your videos I have learned so much I always wanted to grow plants well and I'm doing so much better thanks to you ☺️
I had a geranium plant planted in the ground. A weed kept coming up and I couldn’t get to the root of it. After watching your videos, I was brave enough to dig up the entire plant, wash off the roots and saw the weed was entangled in the root of the geranium. I was able to easily remove the big weed and replant the geranium. It’s so much happier now! Thank you for teaching me.
Lakewood CA
Im just getting into plants and i have those pots in my cart. Ill take em out lol. And let me just say i love you ithink you're plant teachings are sometimes hilarious 😅
I went to home depot the other day and the succulent and cactus plants section they watered everything and left plants drowning and soaked. Literally there was a plant that you can't get water in the tubes or it'll rot they were all rotting and had algea and mush. I felt so bad cause they are just going to throw all those plants away at the end of the week.
Krystal , you know this already 😊,
YOU ARE AWESOME 👏
I just want to say THANK YOU!!!! I had a black thumb until I started watching your videos 😊 I thank you and my new Aloe plant thanks you too
So happy I could help you!!!! 💚💚💚💚
Ok self watering pots work. Those that use strings. In fact I do a lot of my own self watering pots with cotton strings, since I’m working Full time and also a mom I don’t have time to water my plants on daily basis. My plants are outdoors.
My alocasia, aglonema, pothos, they love the self watering pots. The humidity is perfect for them. And also it’s constant humidity, I often kill plants with irregular watering schedule since I’m busy, so the self watering pots work. When done properly.
This is why im so glad the store i work at has people assigned to water and tend to the plants every day.
Thank you so much for your knowledge on plants XO
You always make me smile. 🌱 thanks.
I love these pots! I have an Aglaonema Siam that is totally thriving in those exact pots. If I could add a picture I would!
“Shimmy that shoil “ I love it 😂
I have a ZZ plant from a big box home improvement store and it came in a self watering pot. It has been doing great on my desk at work. I didn't think it would work out, honestly, but she's happy!
Lmao I must’ve gotten lucky because ive bought that SAME Aglaonema from that SAME pot in Lowe’s about 6 months ago, never changed the pot or soil, and it’s still growing strong!! ❤
Love your channel. I've learned so much from you.
True. This was me with self watering pots, and I almost ended up with root rot for my poor African violet. Yes, they are helpful, but need to make sure that the roots and soil have the time to completely dry out before you refill the self watering pot
Do you do live videos with Q and A ? Because girl I have so many questions about my plants and their behavior 😉 I need you to come over and look at my 37 plants and diagnose them !
"You were in jail" 😂 So adorable
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us ❤
I just got some plants from a store and I'll like to give it a try to rescue them, any tips
Fiddle leaf fig: green big leaves but top is all bent
Cactus: it's still green, no root rot and is soft
You've saved a life today. The life of my pothos, but still.
I exclusively use self-watering pots and/or pots with trays underneath. I go through and fill all the trays about once a week or so, the soil takes up the moisture on its own. I allow 3-4 days between the trays drying out before refilling.
I love those self watering pots for my orchids in leca. Leca doesn’t break down over time like regular medium so it makes the self watering setup totally viable. It doesn’t work so well with organic potting mediums.
I recently bought some self-watering pots more because they were on sale for $2 each, decent size and I plan to treat them like regular pots and drill into the bottom tray (effectively removing the self-watering function). If I ever want to use that feature I can plug up the hole with extra plugs I have from a previous pot. I think this can work for those of us wanting to avoid throwing away things that are still technically usable / if we're on a tight budget.
Thank you!! I thought this was Great.!! Call it Wick & Grow.
Well yes, my plant/plants definatly were drowning. As a beginer, maybe a little further along now, I gotta have more faith in myself & my skills. Thanks Krystel. I try staulking you every day*lol*😅
Hi thanks, Love my plants. But I love to go backpacking in July/August as well. :| So I went mostly with rock gardens and succulents.... it worked well, but many fatalities with the others... My beautiful "City Lights" Dahlia... died. Hoping her tubers will live. Bless.
I work at a big box store. Im the person that waters the plants. The biggest issue is they dont teach about what plants to water every day and what plants not to. I take care of all the self watering pots, and I've been lucky to keep them alive for a long time. But i learned a trick with those pots. Never add water to the pots until it's completely dry in the bottom and not until the soil has dried. I also dont fill it with too much with water just enough to the top of the little window. I learned this from watching your videos about watering plants, and it's worked really well.
The only plants I keep in self-watering pots right now are my spider plants and my inch plant. They are in the sort of self-waterer that use a cotton rope to draw small amounts of water up into the soil and I always make sure to let them stay dry for a few days before refilling when they do run out. Ideally I'll refill the reservoir when the plants juuuust start to droop a little. Most plants I wouldn't dare to keep in a self-watering system just because it's so hard to control.
After a through soaking I always repot store bought plants. They are usually always root bound and some are planted in plain ol cocoa fiber that will become hydrophobic and actually rob the plants of moisture over time.
Bought this same plant and it immediately started dying until I walked by it one day and saw the ring around the roots. I cut the plastic off and repotted it and now it is beautiful!! I even got a second one as a rescue because it was suffocating!
I have about 13 orchids all in self watering pots. I've had great success. they're all super healthy and have rebloomed multiple times
Thank you!! I just bought 2 from the bbs with those same pots. They are not in the same pot but i forgot to xheck for the root cages..thank you!!!!
The plant whisperer ❤
I think it depends on the plant. My birds nest fern has gotten HUGE & is really thriving. It’s in this very same pot & has been since the day I purchased it
👍🏽 because ferns like moist soil 🪴
Yea. I've been trying to make my one store-bought pot work, but the problem I find, is that you can't see when water has pooled to the bottom. I made a similar contraption (pretty basic), but used translucent containers I had that stack perfectly to leave about an inch underneath for a sort of reservoir
I got a self watering pot but it has 2 layers. One that slips in to another and I use it for orchids but this way. I drill a lot of holes on the inner part, put the orchid in and when it is watering time, put water in the outer layer and the inner slips right in pushing water inside the medium and towards orchid roots. I leave the water in for maybe 3 minutes, drain the water out and assemble the pot again. Worked very well to have a nice looking pot for orchids.
I have quite a few plants in pots that I've made into self watering. Interestingly, I just purchased a plant yesterday, a ZZ, in a pot just like that😆. I'm planning to separate it into 2 or 3 plants and place them into one of my self watering pots in a few days, letting it adjust in it's new climate.
😂 I have that same plant and pot. I found mine at Lowe's on a clearance rack. I put a flat screwdriver on the stove and burned 6 drainage holes in the bottom of the pot and potted the plants in another pot. I had to clip the basket pots off the roots as well.
Africa Violets, they are essential, but I have had NO luck with other plants in them, they keep it too wet. I prefer pottery to keep roots from being too swamped. If you're gone for a while, you can put a plastic deli container full of water, and run a wick from the bottom of your pot to the water in the deli container, I use strands of new cotton mops. It keeps the moisture more even and excess is evaporated.
Thank you so much. I have a plant that is dying and its in this pot. Im going to go repot it. Great video
Videos like this is what’s really taught me how to let my plants thrive. I got a Venus fly trap recently - HUGE. It was very quickly declining, so I had assumed I overwatered it (yes I use distilled). Turns out it was trapped in a tiny netting, the roots couldn’t move at all.
Omg that pot.....i am currently nursing a neon pothos back to health do to that pot with the strings!
The only thing I love selfwatering pots for is celery!!! It loves to be wet and is super dramatic if the dirt gets slightly dry!
She looks much happier now!
I loooove my self watering pots! If you’re reading this and newer to them but want to try them out, I started with the kind that’s made of clay! There’s the pot you put your plant in that’s unglazed clay, sometimes a Terra cotta, and that sits in another reservoir which you put water in. If not that kind (they’re pricey), try one that has a reservoir underneath the pot that the plant is in DOESNT TOUCH, but instead you put a cotton wicking string in the pot the plant is sitting in and it sucks up water as your plant needs it. I find the kind that has a basket that sits a little in the water is way harder to maintain and it’s super easy to under or over water. 90% of my plants are in self watering pots-either store bought or DIY-and it’s the only reason they’re still alive. 😂 the only ones that aren’t are my snake plant (bc they like to be neglected and dry out) and my plants on moss poles (which I’ll be converting to self watering poles soon!).
She’s like my 25 yr old mom, 98 yr old granny and 12 yr old daughter all wrapped up as my bff neighbor 😂😂😂❤
That feeling when you just bought a fiddle leaf fig in one of those pots and HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS THE TRASH IT WAS IN
Maybe make a hempy bucket hole 1-2 inches up from bottom and put pot in a saucer to catch runoff?
I reuse those pots for plants i grow hydroponically with LECA. Theyre not trash, theyre just not good for plants in soil.
Yea I had to learn this the hard way when buying my first plant a couple of months ago. They had a zz plant in that EXACT pot. Again, it was my first time buying plants, so within a week I had root rot
Where can I find potting mixes? I am from the UK. I am a fan of yours. Thanks to you, I am learning a lot about plant care
Oh wow! I was just given a few of these from the recycled section at the store. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them so I didn’t install the wicks and basically have them as cute outer pots.
Can you do a video bout when and how to actually use a self watering pot?
Haha the BEST use for a self-watering plater in my experience are bog/swamp-dwelling plants! Like my carnivorous plants.
I've brought some self-watering thingies for my indoor trees after several died because they like to stay wet and we have had super high heat where I am. So balancing keeping them wet and general life with several extra need house members, I just couldn't keep up.I mourn my loss, but hope I can save my others. I will not, however, be using them on any of my other plants because most things hate it. Freaks me out how so many places are so hype about them when very few plants can realistically tollerate constant wet...
My dumb cane did well in a self watering pot like that for years. But it must depend so much on the type of plant and how much string they put through the soil. I also would let it run out of water occasionally. 😊
I now have a Ficus in that pot, but I dont think it likes it like the dumb cane did. May be time to retire it! 😆😆
I hate the ones with the snap on bottoms. I have to pry them off by wedging a flat head screw driver in the crack and yanking as hard as I can.
I love wot u do ❤ can I ask where do u buy the blue cup that u use to plant ur plants pleasesss ❤
Oh god I'm staring at my pothos in this exact planter right now!! 😭
When i re-potted my mums orchid there were TWO nursery pots embedded in the roots 😩 it's now in a much bigger pot and sending out roots uncontrollably 😂 flowered beautifully too, poor thing was dyed blue when i bought it! Blue!
I only use them for propagations. I testing it out since I heard plants in pin lowers pest rest and realized very quickly that I absolutely hated them. I’d rather deal with a random pest now and then than killing my plant quickly.
The thing I hate with the big box stores is that they HAVE to have their plants in a decorative pot and charge you more for it. Ma'am, I've got better pots at home, please just let me buy the plant at a decent price.
i work at a garden center for a big chain store and sometimes we receive those plants with the planters broken so i would mark them down which made them reasonably priced. turns out i’m not allowed to do that anymore though they still want us selling plants with no pot for full price
It's heartbreaking to see the condition of plants in big box stores! Please consider supporting local and native plant nurseries. It's a great way to improve plants' well-being and contribute to preserving native species
I use self watering pots for certain plants like peace lilly and arrow head plants and the ones that are ALWAYS thirsty. But most plants aren't happy in these. I wait untill the soil is dry, then I fill the reservoir with water.
Krystal: can you please do a vid in how to properly grow supermarket grown potted basil. :(
The way you said shimmie dat shoul😂😂😂😂
Thank you for your Channel. Started to repott all my plants because of your Informations and hope they gonna get better now because they were more like in a surviving fight than just beeing Alive 😅
Edit: what soil do you use?
I rescued that same plant from lowes in a self watering pot. I had to do the same thing, I have it rerooting in just water, I used the self watering pot for my peace lilly. I love Agleonemas and I hate seeing them suffer
I saw a ZZ plant in a self-watering pot today. I was screaming inside!
Since i was unfamiliar with the concept of self watering pots and the first one i bought didnt have any water in it, i thought it was a weird cover pot and used it like that 😂the plant is still thriving
I hear about these being terrible, so I'm so confused why two I have from Walmart are actually thiving in them? One is an angel wing begonia and the other is a Raven ZZ plant. Is it because of the plant type, that I waited until everything dried out before watering the bottom, or have I just lucked the heck out??? They've been the only ones I'm cautious about repotting because they are doing so good!
Orchids and Hoyas love self-watering pots but cactus and some succulents hate this method since it requires dry soil for a few day after the the last watering