For all of its advantages, gardening in containers has its occasional challenges. Ask any seasoned container gardener to pinpoint them and you’ll get a laundry list of plants that thrived and those that inexplicably died.
Many a sick or dying plant can be revived if it’s given a quick diagnosis and the appropriate treatment.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
Overwatering is a common problem in container gardens. When plant roots stand in soil saturated with water, too little oxygen is absorbed for normal photosynthesis to occur in the foliage above.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Underwatering your containers causes wilting, loss of static pressure inside the plant’s cells and collapse.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
If you suspect wilting due to under- or overwatering, tilt the container and tap the bottom of it. A rush of water coming through the drainage hole confirms overwatering as the problem. If the plant loosens in the container instead, slide it completely out and examine its roots. If they’re firm and healthy, the problem is lack of water.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
Yellowed foliage usually indicates a fertilizer deficiency or an acid-balance problem that can be corrected through feeding.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
It bears repeating: A pot isn’t a natural habitat for a plant. The steps that nature takes to feed, grow and flower or bear fruit in the open garden are much different than those a container plant experiences. In fact, you have to fill the role of Mother Nature in many circumstances.
The real key to having a gorgeous container garden is to head off problems before they happen. If there’s a single formula for success, it’s this: Buy healthy plants, put them in clean pots of an appropriate size for the eventual mature growth of your plantings, use the right soil and nutrients, and water and fertilize them as needed.
And if there’s a corollary to the formula, it’s this: Inspect your plants thoroughly and often. Every few days is about the right schedule for plant inspection. Fortunately, this coincides with your regular watering duties, so get in close and really take a look. Pick up your plants’ leaves and examine their undersides – especially if there are signs of edge browning, yellowing or wilting. Look at the stems for damage, insects or crowding. Finally, check the soil for symptoms to correct, including mineral salts on the soil surface and excessively dry or soggy soil.
The most common reason for container plant failure is improper watering – too little or too much – followed by starvation through lack of fertilizer or buildup of salts in the soil that prevent the plant from absorbing nutrients.
If a container plant has been stressed by lack of water, try submerging it in a bucket or basin of water for 15 minutes, remove it, and allow it to drain completely. You may have to cut away dead foliage, but the plant will likely bounce back in a few days. A plant in salt-encrusted soil should receive the same treatment. Follow this with a liquid fish emulsion fertilizer to the soil and a foliar fertilizer spray to the leaves, carefully reading and following all label instructions.
Another reason a plant could be struggling is an improper match of plant to pot. If you picked the wrong-sized container, selected one that’s made of an unsuitable material or didn’t properly prepare the pot before planting, you could soon have a container garden sporting only yellow, wilted plants and a mound of soil. Be sure to always pick a good, suitable planter from the start and always clean and sanitize it before planting. (If you don’t know what kind of pot to get for the plants you’d like to buy, you can always consult with the nursery professional at your local garden center.)
And of course you can’t forget to constantly monitor your containers to make sure they’re getting the right amount of light. The sun exposure your plants get throughout the growing season will be affected by the surrounding trees and other nearby container plantings, as well as by the progressive shading from structures as the position of the sun changes throughout the day.
Plants that rely on a great deal of sunlight must be monitored for signs of heat exhaustion or scorching. While direct sun may be essential for such plants, intense heat can sear tissues and dry out soil and roots. A few hours in partial shade during a particularly hot day likely will benefit a plant more than enough to offset any reduced photosynthesis during that time. (Always keep exposed container plants well-watered, as they transport the water to their foliage and expire it to reduce their temperature.)
So choose carefully when container gardening. That means taking the time to pick the right plants, pots, soil – even location – with care. Then keep a close eye on your little garden. If something seems to be going awry, take the time to figure out what that problem might be and try to fix it (and give your plants a little time to recover). With the right preparation and observation, you’ll soon realize one of the wonderful benefits of container gardens: You can nurture species you never thought were possible to grow in your area’s climate and conditions – and be successful at it!
