Plastic bags on pots

May be a silly question but when you cover a plant with a plastic bag should you make some holes in it for air circulation and stop condensation build up.I have read various advice so wondering what members advise.
Some advice say holes in bag others say no holes but take bag of for 15 mins a day.

I had to take out 2 of my canna bulbs out of the heated propagator to make room for something else.Under the heat the bulbs were growing nicely so I decided to cover them with clear plastic bags.I emptied all the drawers trying to find clear plastic bags to fit pots.Found one large enough but the other one pot is too large so I have for the moment covered it with a nearly clear co op carry bag.
We have some freezer bags but they are too small but would be ideal if large enough.I see on fleebay there are some strong extra large freezer bags 100 bags @ 35cm x 35cm for £1:99 +p.p so may buy some of those

 

Well the idea of a plastic bag is to build up a nice humid atmosphere . If I use one though , I like to make a couple of small holes in the top to let it breath a little. And like you , I find it difficult to find bags the right size for some pots !

 

I covered pots for the first time late last year but didn't put any holes in them, it didn't occur to me to be honest. Tesco's self seal bags fit over a two litre pot snuggly.

 

When I want a bag-over-a-pot I place the bag over the plant and then fasten (the open end) around the pot with an elastic band (rather than using, say, a zip-lock bag). These leaves the base of the pot "open" so I can stand the pot in some water for a few minutes if I need to water it.

To stop the plant being in contact with the condensation I take the bag off and turn it inside out (I usually only bother once or twice a week, but clearly could do it more often). If you just take the bag off for a few minutes, and don't turn it inside out, I suspect the plastic will still be wet when it goes back on? If its a plant known to hate condensation I put some small sticks into the pot, so that they jut out a bit, and then they keep the bag off the foliage.

If I have a plant that develops a problem I place the bag over, but I don't tighten it around the pot - so there is free airflow from below, but the humidity stays around the plant.

Another way to get humidity is to stand the pot on a pot-saucer or tray of gravel and put water in the gravel (but not deep enough that the pot is sitting in water). As the water evaporates it will rise around the leaves.

Can also mist the plants several times a day (a "laundry" hand sprayer will do), although if you have very hard water that may leave marks on the leaves, so you may want to use rain water instead.

 

Thanks for the advice.At the moment I have no large elastic bands so am using string but will buy some knicker or in my case pant elastic Wednesday.

The plants or bulbs I have the plastic over are my Calla bulbs which are very slow growing.I think I should of purchased the sooner and started them off.Would the condensation damage the bulbs as I am sure somewhere I read only to keep soil moist not wet??

 

I expect they need bottom heat to get them started. The soil should definitely not be wet, until they have started growing, or there is a risk that they rot, and high humidity will help (i.e. compensate for compost not being very moist by encouraging growth into the humid air)

Did the corms from somewhere cheap & cheerful, or somewhere more specialist?

If they are cheap & cheerful they might either be deeply dormant, or "tired/old" perhaps :(

 

Fleebay!!!! The corms did look good on the sellers page but the ones I received were nothing like that. In fact one had a bit of mildew on it!!
They are growing very slowly (3/4") so I think for this year it has been a learning curve for me and the old saying "you only get what you pay for" certainly applies.For next year I will seek out from the forum where members purchased their corms and were happy with them.

 

Anglia Bulbs has done well for me the last couple of years. You might want to take a look at their site and if you like the look then Bookmark for another look next season