Pots on grass. Worms.

Hi all,

I have pots of Cherry Laurels directly on the grass. They're for sale, hence I'm not doing anything with them.

However, I re-potted them the other day as they are growing and they are up to 4ft tall and then were only in 2 litre pots (now 5 litre). And almost all the pots had a worm or two in them. One of them had creatures I couldn't identify and clear spherical eggs (I assume).

Should these pots be on a solid surface? Or are these critters not doing any harm?

 

Worms are fine. The clear spheres are snail/slug eggs. Not much you can do about either - worms seem to appear everywhere but they're good for soil.

 

Yes worms are good but has for snail eggs. Keeping clutter to a minimum helps as there are fewer places for slugs and snails to lay their eggs, so it’s best to store pots, bags of compost and other garden sundries, in another place alsoi Birds love to eat slug and snail eggs, so all you need to do is scatter them on the ground or, even better, on a bird table. There’s no need to squash the eggs as birds will simply gobble them up whole.

 

I wouldn't worry either. Slug/snail eggs are often present in compost or soil, and worms are fine.

If you have nowhere else to put them, it's not the end of the world, but if you don't get a buyer fairly soon, I wouldn't leave them there through winter, as it isn't ideal for your grass, and they'll also start to root into it if there long enough and conditions are favourable.

 

I always put Weed Membrane over the hole in the bottom of the pot to help stop unwanted intruders. (I never use crocks at the bottom now, because of "perched water table".

 

All my pots are on hard standing ... and the worms find them.

 

If I find a single one in a container, I fish him out in case he's lonely

 

Hi all,

These plant pots are still where they were. And now that we're entering spring and the plants will start growing again I am concerned they will root into the soil beneath the pots.

I went out today and bought saucers for each pot. But now I'm reading that this may cause waterlogging of the roots so perhaps that's not a good idea.

Any suggestions?

 

I don’t use saucers as it makes watering difficult. The saucer fills up and then you have to take the pot off and empty it.

Your plants may send some roots out of the bottom of the pot and into the ground. I shouldn’t worry. A bit of a tug and these will come loose.

 

An alternative is to get pot feet to raise them off the soil. It also helps reduce the chance of ants nesting in the pots

 

Does the soil wash away doing this though?

 

The roots will be binding the soil in those pots so nothing to worry about. As a temporary measure you could place your pots on some upturned empty plant pots if you have any. I often do this to protect Hostas in containers from slugs.

 

Or put the plant pots on the upturned saucers I bought today? Or drill a hole in them?

 

Get some cheap paving slabs and put one under each pot.

 

Turn the saucers I've bought upside down instead?