Pot drainage

[Heinie]

Here is a tip of what I do to all my pots to assist in drainage. I cut slots in the side and bottom of all my pots with an angle grinder with a one millimeter blade. The additional slot assists hugely to achieve a better capillary action in the pot.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Do you recommend plastic pots?

[Heinie]

I have pros and cons for both plastic and clay pots. I notice that gardeners on this forum use clay pots almost throughout.

Plastic pots are used in RSA because it is lighter to carry around due to climatic changes for different seasons although a small percentage of gardeners grow to my extent. The plants will not last in your hot climate and the roots will cook. Plastic pots do not dry out as quickly as clay pots.

Clay pots are used more for decoration in the garden or on patios and around the pool area where they remain all year round in the RSA. Clay pots may work better for your hot environment because it will probably not get as hot as a plastic pot so the roots will not "cook". Clay pots are extremely expensive here. My hobby would never have extended to what I have now due to difference in price. Clay pots dry out much quicker than plastic pots so water is needed more often. Clay pots gives superior medium cooling due to porosity of the material if it is not painted.

To summarize, I will use clay pots in your country for the sake of the roots of plants. If prices were similar to plastic pots I would use clay pots throughout here too. The difference for example of a 20cm clay pot and a plastic pot here is that a clay pot is about 10 to 12 times more expensive than a plastic pot. The larger the pot size the more expensive the difference becomes. Keep in mind that I have over 600 pots planted with bulbs and about 2500 pots planted with Clivia plants in my shade houses. Here is a photo of my largest shadehouse with 6 racks similar to these in the photo. Those are 16.5 cm pots and 240 on a rack.





This is the two small shadehouse where 150 pots are housed per shadehouse with seedling Clivias of under 2 years old.


The third shadehouse holds 600 pots and then there are many pots around the garden also planted with Clivias like the photo below.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Thankyou for detailed reply
Is this your Grandson ? . Hugs for him

Its opposite here. Clay pot (around 10-12 inch) would cost 0.8-1 US Dollar here. Whereas same size in plastic will be of more than 3/4 $.

[Munir]

Wow, a big collection of Clivia . Why particularly Clivia; is it the most popular flower there ? And then,those visible in the Shade House are mostly Miniata; again is this the one most liked- the young cute gardner there certaily looks to be fond of this ? What is generally the price of this big plant ?

As regards pots, plastic ones are used here mostly for indoor plants,mainly for better looks/decoration.They are not commonly available & are expensive,as Farhan mentioned.

[Heinie]

Farhan
Yes, that is my grandson. The photos of the garden was taken about 3 years ago. The price difference between plastic and clay pots in your country is very interesting.

Munir
Why particularly Clivia? Clivia in indigenous to South Africa and nowhere else in the world. It is great fun to breed different colour plants for the goal of getting something special. Have you seen any other colour than orange Clivia in Pakistan?

Yes, the plants in the shade house are mostly miniata because it is the only of the 6 species to have an open flower. The grandson loves plants too and his father also grows them. If you are buying a standard orange garden Clivia it will cost you around US$6 to US$8 and a yellow one about US$12. I know of an offset of one such special plant that sold for US$3200 in 2010 on an auction and the registered name is Charl's Green. The flowers are green.

[Munir]

Interesting.I don't know the prices in our local market since these are not commonly available; any one who is in touch?

[Farhan Ahmed]

Interesting.I don't know the prices in our local market since these are not commonly available; any one who is in touch?

I have seen healthy grown up plants at Islo being sold for Rs.2000. I am not sure about the cultivar. But i guess its the most common one/Red

[Hamad Ahmed Kisana]

common orange clivia is available in 250 Rs per plant from Lahore.

[Farhan Ahmed]

common orange clivia is available in 250 Rs per plant from Lahore.

Size of plant? The one i mentioned was a mature plant.