Keeping Your Containers Moist

Keeping your container plants moist is quite the challenge when temps are in the 90s and high 80s. Sometimes they need watered twice a day and if you’ve been gone all day the potting medium can dry out more than you’d like. Once it is completely dry or nearly so, it can be hard to have water soak in. One way to accomplish this is to water the pot, wait a few minutes, water again, and repeat until the medium has absorbed enough water. Gently spraying the pots in that container will help them rehydrate. Another method to rehydrate a container is to set it in a pan of water so that it is continually absorbing water from the bottom. I like to keep a kitty litter container outside that I can put a couple inches of water in for just this purpose. It works great for any size pot from 4″ on up. The other day I noticed little wiggly thingies in the water and recognized them to be mosquito larvae. Since breeding mosquitos wasn’t my objective I poured that water out on some containers where the water would quickly dry up and the larvae perish. So be aware of the possibility of mosquitos trying to create more mosquitos and don’t leave the water standing in any container too long. Another option is to put a little bit of a ‘mosquito dunk’ in the standing water. Mosquito dunks contain larvicides in the form of BT that will stop the larvae from developing and are great for bird baths or other water containers not changed regularly. Hope these ideas help. – Sandy