Cacti and Succulents. Contact Hywel, he is our expert !

Would've thought Cacti and succulents needed excellent drainage.

Can you define "full, indirect sun" and maybe give a bit more details on the area.

Thanks for your answers. In my experience succulents need very good drainage.

Andy in answer to your questions we have a large planter box which is about 2 x 4 metres and 1 metre deep. The drian underneath does not drain very well and we cannot change that. There is a huge sky-light above so it lets lots of light in but the sun does not shine directly on the area. Hope that explains it a bit better.

I agree missjade succulents need very good drainage. Have you considered so of the plants that are pond marginals?

Cyperus alternifolius is a good plant to grow in wet soil. It likes lots of water, so would probably grow well in your container. Maybe as Moon Grower suggests, you could look up some other water/marsh plants that would grow indoors.
I agree that cacti and succulents need very good drainage.

Oh dear, I thought as the container was indoors it would be hot and dry. Forgot you might want to water it !
Ha ha.
Will stop giving stupid advice.

Diane you're not stupid. According to Missjade, the container gets lots of sun, and that would suit cacti and succulents. So maybe you were mislead a bit :o)

If it was nice, bright and warm, i'd look at any of the exotics.....Cortons, peace lillies, anthuriums, palms, hibiscus, Aglonaema, Diffenbachia, philodendrons, etc etc.

Just watch out for red spider mites in those conditions.

Sounds like it is too wet for a lot of those Andy

Didn't think it said that it was wet, just that the drain wasn't too good. If you keep the watering down....maybe dig the planting hole a bit bigger and add a handful of grit, there should be no reason why the plants named couldn't be grown, especially once established.

I always went on the theory that if something is grown warm and bright, it usually grows better and therefore requires more water.

I used to look after the palm house for Brighton parks dept and once established, many tropical plants love loads of water.

Could work with grit in the planting holes...

Thanks everyone for your feedback, it is great to get some ideas as the plant shop has not really been any help. They just keep on telling me to fix the drainage problem which we have tried without success.
This is the first time I have tried to look after plants so very new at this and I hope I explained the situation OK.
Andy you are correct that at present it is not wet soil as I do not water too much. There is an automatic water system under the soil and I put it on for 15 min once a week.
The plants that are in there now are
Croton Petra - this one looks the best but its leaves are very hard.
Peace Lilly - looks pretty good, flowers but leaves a bit brown on ends.
Arrowhead - looks OK but lots of brown/yellow leaves
Calathea - looks pretty bad, yellow spots all over and very brown ends.
Stromanthe Sanguinea - looks very bad, most leaves are a yellow colour and lots of brown at the ends.
The last plant I don't know what its called but also looks very bad with big yellow spots amd brown ends.
I was told at the plant shop that the yellow spots were from root rot.
I have been trying to get these plants back to life for about 15 months now. The first 3 mentioned are doing well now compaired to the mess they were in when I moved in. The other 3 I was thinking of changing.
I love the Stromanthe Sanguinea but I just can't get it looking nice.
Maybe I will try a anthurium as they look beautiful and I will put some grit in the hole first.
If anyone has anymore help on looking after these plants in my situation please leave some feedback.
Thanks again for all your help

FERNS ?????

The brown ends almost certainly indicate humidity problems. Can you hide small dishes of water among the plants and allow them to evaporate....creating small microclimates. Do you spray the plants over ? maybe a top dressing of leca (small, lightweight pebbles) or gravel which can be sprayed twice a day would help with humidity.
I have an Aspidistra in my bathroom which has been there for 5 years and it looks as good as the day i bought it...but there are 4 of us who have a shower each day and all that lovely humidity and steam are ideal for houseplants.

Also, do you feed the plants ?

Hi Andy, I will try putting water dishes around the garden as that will be very easy to do. I do spray the plants currently but maybe not enough (only couple times a week). The garden is already covered in pebbles and I feed them Nitrosol which is a liquid plant food. Any idea what the yellow spots are from, should I reduce watering a little?
Thanks again for your help