Whilst buying some prepared hyacinths in the garden center, I noticed
they had a guide to planting etc. When I looked at it, it stressed that
the pot you plant in MUST have drain holes!

I've obviously been doing things wrong for the last 50 years, and don't
intend to change, but what do others do?

In article ,
Pwllgloyw wrote:
Whilst buying some prepared hyacinths in the garden center, I noticed
they had a guide to planting etc. When I looked at it, it stressed that
the pot you plant in MUST have drain holes!

I've obviously been doing things wrong for the last 50 years, and don't
intend to change, but what do others do?

I have no pots without drain holes. The only real problem with those
is ensuring that you never overwater - because, obviously, the water
will collect in the bottom and kill the roots (of anything except
water and waterside plants). If you avoid that, they work.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 11/09/2020 10:55, Pwllgloyw wrote:
Whilst buying some prepared hyacinths in the garden center, I noticed
they had a guide to planting etc. When I looked at it, it stressed that
the pot you plant in MUST have drain holes!

I've obviously been doing things wrong for the last 50 years, and don't
intend to change, but what do others do?

Do they also insist on decent compost being used, rather than the "bulb
fibre" which, although holding water well, has very little in the way of
nutrients?

Is the instruction to use pots with drainage holes because they are
suggesting that the bulbs can be kept from year to year rather than be
discarded?

--

Jeff

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:

I note that hyacinths are often grown indoors over water in a
'hyacinth vase', where only the very base of the bulb touches the
water but the roots are fully immersed. I works with other bulbs too,
apparently. That suggests that the roots of those bulbs are more
tolerant of waterlogging than plants in general.

Possibly. But that water is almost certainly more aerated than the
water that accumulates at the bottom of a container, and quite a
few plants can handle aerated water but not anaerobic water.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.