How to plant in a "Strawberry Pot"?

Hi Gardengem. If it had been practical to get it to you, you could have had mine for free. I find it useless for most plants. You water in the top and the water comes out of the sides which dry out in no time so until a plant is established (and has to be deep rooted) you have to watch them like a hawk. I just use the top of mine as a large planter.

John.

Laugh! John and I agree and disagree.

Nothing wrong in your pot. Problem is soil and watering.
One inserts eaxh plant into every hole as one fills the pot. This is NOT meant for seeding anything. Wont Work!

Now as John mentioned, watering is a bitch. One suggestion being to insert a long tube of cardboard, like a paper towel thingii, or a PVC pipe and fill it with perlite, pumice or clay fragments. This goes down to the bottom of the pot. Now start filling the rest and layer in your herbs or whatever until you get to the top. Water your creation with B-1. let the soil settle for a day or so, then pull out the tube.

This center tube will allow water to penetrate better.
Using hydro-prill capsules will also help. They last perhaps up to two years, at which your soil will need to be changed anyway.

Not a total loss. Just buy a high quality soil mix, put in a center water tube and add some of those hydro prills.

Hi Gardengem, i can't comment on these types of pots, as i have never used one, i have always thought that they are too expensive for what they are, but for growing strawberries i can recomend a very effective, and attractive alternative, i grow mine in hanging baskets and wall baskets. really easy to do - i have some pictures in my garden page of the wall baskets i did last year, the fruit was amazing, and lots of them too, and added in the bargain they look really good. the thing you need to remeber about growing strawberries, here is a useful tip for you: the name 'strawberry' comes from the way in which they were originally grown. the traditional way of growing them is to place straw around the base of the plant, so that as the friut ripens and becomes heavy it lays on the straw, rather than the soil surounding the plant, this is because if it touches the soil, it will rot. so you need to insure that this does'nt happen, one way is with straw, another is planting them in a tall pot, or basket so that the fruit hangs over the sides. i think this is where the design of the fruit planter you have comes from, but unless you have a really big one, you will find that the bottom plants will still end up touching the floor when the fruit rippens, and will rot, - i have herd that they are not hugely successful for growing strawberries anyway, and reading what the others have said would make a lot of sense, as they are also quite thirsty plants, i lined my hanging wall baskets with plastic last year and added water retaining gel, and this was very effective. an alternative to planting your pot with strawberrys might be succulent plants, they require very little watering at the base, and you can get some nice trailing vareities that might complete the look really well, and be far more suitable for your pot. hope this helps

i made my own strawberry pot and it has ivy in the sides and a large furn in the top.i filled mine slowly untill i reached a hole or holes.i found the root ball of the ivy filled the hole in and stopped the water/dirt comming out the sides.i have a picture on here on my profile of it some wear.you just got to put a plant in the hole thats root ball is a bit of a squeese to get it.creeping jenny would look good to.id try anything within reasen

Thank you guys for your suggestions!...John and skyline, I didn't think about the water running out the sides. I will keep that in mind...MH I don't think that I will try strawberries in this particular pot. You are right they are usually pretty expensive. I got a really good deal on this one or else I wouldn't have bought it. I passed it a couple times before I picked it up. Strawberries are grown around here commercially, so the climate would probably be good for them.

Succulents might bee a good idea. NP, ivy growing down one sounds like it would be nice too. I will have to see if I can find your pic.

Gardengem, I am glad we could help.

One other tip, here in the State we have a product called hydro-prills it is a plastic polemer sp? that can absorb a tremendous amount of water. One adds a Tbls.or less to the soil mix in a typical basket. More so for the Strawberry planter. This product is a blessing for such situations and can last (maybe) three years. It depends on the amount of fertilizer you use.

An herb jar would nead much less than a strawberry one. Three years for that Two years for your strawberry one. Between those times you would need to depot everything and put in fresh soil, with hydroprills and start over.

Now with succulents you might get away with five years. It is all in the usage of the pot. READ MY FINAL ANSWER!
as the talk shows would have it. Consider attractive Sedum, Jovibarba (I uploaded a picture) Delosperma etc. When it is warm, Aeonium, Echevaria etc. These would need to be put into a cool greenhouse over winte though.

As for chives, marjorum, oregano and most herbs the pot would be just fine. Heavy munchers such as Mint (no way put it in.) Strawberries -- nice in magazines but not so much in real life. That said even those would do well if you use foliar feeds.

It is not so much what pot you put plants in, it is in how you manage their environment.

A strong NO to Ivy. It is one of my sore spots. If you do get one, buy the very most miniature ones. Right now I am working on a Chia covered house. It is IVY. Up the walls, into the woodwork, over the windows and now into the gutters. It looked so cute! I warned the owners three years ago. Finally, I got permision to kill the sucker. Ivy in the states has become a noxious weed, so listed by many states. Nurseries continue to sell it.

Two years ago, I was hired to kill some forty ft. plus vines that were overwhelming some Douglas Fir trees. The stems were the size of my arm. It took some doing but I finally deleted those beasts.

I must have skimmed over Majeekaheads answer. He is right on. Same suggestions. "water retaining gel"

I think we can agree, that there are some things better bought in the store. Fresh herbs, now that is a good use for that planter, but nothing that fruits and draws much nuitriant out of the soil. Strawberries are a no go for me!
Buy them or grow them ans Majeekahead suggested.

To keep the thread flowing which fresh herbs woudl you include?

My vote:
Chives
A good real culinary thyme.
Dwarf Greek oregano. Make sure it is this! To die for.

Savory can become lanky unless you keep shearing it.
Marjoram ??? Not me. I don't use it that much.

Ahah! color. We need color. In the spring insert some dark purple basil!

Some of my favorite herbs. I hope others post their own favorites.

BTW my name is Herb Senft. In German the last name could be read as MUSTARD, so I am doubly doomed in this career of mine. :-) Actually mustard is Senf in German.

Senft is the word most closely interpreted as a Notorary, or of having the last word. To put ones Senft upon something is giving a stamp of approval.
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GARDENGEM -- so much thanks, I just double checked this Senft thing. I know it is correct but another site says this.
"nickname for a helpful or friendly person, from Middle High German senfte ‘soft’, ‘accommodating’."

I reply that "Ich bin ein Hochdeutcher, not a lowlsucking platdeutscher>". I think my original handle was as correct as the latter. :-)

http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Senft-family-history.ashx

Now they asked about my first name. Herbert is bad enough, but my parents first thought was Klaus! God helped me out on that one. Especially having lived in a Polish neighborhood in Canada, a Jewish one in New Jersey and finally a black ghetto in Oakland CA. I would be dead meat by now.
http://search.ancestry.com/search/

That is a fun site. Put in your own name.
Herbert: English, German, and French: of Continental Germanic origin, introduced to Britain by the Normans. It is composed of the elements heri, hari army + berht bright, famous. Yeah, I knew some of that. Doesn't fit the shoe at all.

I have chives, thyme, sage, 3 mints and oregano as a matter of course plus of course my bay tree and rosemary which wouldn't go in a pot if I wanted too lol. Basil I grow in a plant pot in summer as an annual and parsley (flat leaved for us) as a bienniel. Other herbs we would use so little it just isn't worth it. I tried some in the strawberry pot but the were a disaster so I just have them in the flower border now. They look nice too.

John.

the very nature of us humans is to try or experiment so why stop now.commen sense is all it takes

I posted a pic of my strawberry pot. I was given some beautiful pansies during this holiday season, so I decided to try them in it for now. They have been doing quite well so far.

Happy Holidays!

goog i hope i was of some help

What sort of plants can I grow in strawberry pots?

Plants for strawberry pots?

realy anything that doesnt get big is worth a try