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Hi I wanted to ask everyone’s opinion on using broken clay pieces at… | The Cactus & Succulent Circle | Planta community

Oplamo

Hi I wanted to ask everyone’s opinion on using broken clay pieces at the bottom of pots. A lot of my pots were too tall for the succulents so we recently replanted them with broken clay pieces on the bottom so we didn’t have to put as much soil in there. We were told that it would help with drainage then that same person later said that it actually causes soil to become waterlogged. I was just curious if the clay pieces will cause root rot? It should be noted that the pots all do have drainage holes.

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3 comments

  1. Saarah Aamilah

    That’s a unique idea! Terracotta/ clay can absorb moisture so it is possible that it could cause waterlogged soil, but I’m not certain that it would retain enough to cause it to be dramatically so. To improve drainage I’d suggest something like rocks or sand since they don’t retain moisture, but with what you’re doing it might just mean you need to water even less than usual!

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  2. Mullein

    In my opinion it should be fine as long as the pots have drainage, which you’ve got. It used to be a common suggestion to add a reservoir to pots that don’t have drainage, but that’s not actually a good idea if you can’t see through the pot

    1 like
    • Plant Father

      “rocks for drainage” is still an unfortunately popular idea 🫠 one of my plant-y pet peeves is how commonly it’s recommended. rocks or terracotta pieces or whatever is placed at the bottom creates a perched water table, which is the effect oplamo mentioned, and can keep your soil wet for longer. the physics behind a perched water table are interesting but too complicated for me to explain so i often recommend looking for an article online, there’s lots of helpful scientific pages out there

      2 likes