compacted soil in baskets

How do you prevent the soil from impacting in my hanging baskets..I water maybe every couple of days.but when I do water sometimes it overflows..but when ive checked the soil its rock solid

 

Hi Confused NG

Baskets need to be watered everyday in the summer as they dry out very quickly with the warm winds and the plants taking up the water , you need to break the tension with the compost so it takes up the water so half a teaspoon of washing up liquid in the watering can will help for now but as I wrote earlier every day water , mine have two gallons every day .

 

Is it possible to get them in a container of water, you need to really get them soaked again, dry compost will not absorb as @Spruce says, then follow what he said.

 

good idea Pam

 

Yes I did use compost from gardening centre..will use the trick with the fairy liquid..fairly new to this and first year ive had hanging baskets. .got petunias in them..but I didnt want to be raking the soil as didnt want to break the stalks of the plants...

 

Plus another thing. .you may think this question strange..but you know the baskets had a plastic lining in them.ive kept them in the basket is that right ? :-)

 

The plastic is to help retain water, works well in hot dry weather, however in wet weather the baskets can get waterlogged, sorry it`s not easy.
I have some of those in a cone shape, most useless things, they dry out incredibly fast, I had stabbed through to allow drainage , the first year I used them they got waterlogged, this year they are too dry, I have had to soak them 3 or 4 times, I have now relegated them to a shadier position so they will not dry out so fast.

 

Thanks Pamsdish..yes I also got a skeweer and forced it through the soil and past the plastic to try and help the water through..looking at my plants today they look abit more livlier since they had a good watering..thanks you all for the advice. .no doubt ill back with another quandary lol

 

Does this washing up liquid thing really work ? Bet if you Fairy it would last even longer ! he he.
Apologies for the poor ending comment.
Howard.

 

Cheap potting compost tends to compact. One way to prevent that is to mix it with 10% (by volume) Perlite. It will drain a bit faster though, but the roots will have a much more free root run, and more air in their root structure, which may well give you a better finished product.

You could put a 1L (or maybe 2L) pop bottle, filled with water and a small pin-hole at the bottom, then the water will come out slowly enough to be absorbed rather than run through / off. If the baskets are difficult to get down, in order to "soak", that might work to re-wet them.

 

I've also used water retaining gel in mine this year.

Val

 

thanks for all your advice..as i said its the first time i have had baskets and i feel maybe next time i wont put as many in as i think it looks too impacted..another thing is the greenfly situation they seem to be having a field day with the petunias..any advice on getting rid of them..i did use the fairy liquid but i found the next day day all the petals had turned brown again, and i did do this at an evening as previously i had watered the plants early on and scorched them ...
cheers

 

are aphids and greenfly the same insect