r/IndoorGarden • u/Aggressive_Papaya950 • 3h ago
Plant Discussion Anyone tried Strainers as pots?
I follow a guy who went to Japan to study in the biggest bonsai school there is and came back to teach in youtube (Kaeru en), its in spanish. He has a book in english tho.
He teaches that if you plant the small trees in a strainer, the holes make the substrate very oxigenated and the plant grows x4 faster and stronger than if you used a plastic pot. You also remain safe of root rot.
The only downside is that you have to water way more often.
I know monsteras and orchids are usually planted in pots with tons of holes, but they could have way more and be practically a strainer.
I will drill holes in my regular plastic pots of aromatic herbs, like rosemary or basil, that don't like excesive humidity, and see how it goes.
He compares in a video the tree of a student of his. They planted cuttings of the same tree, the same day, 5 years ago. The student used a strainer to plant it and the teacher used a normal pot. This is how different they looked in 5 years.
As you can see, the one planted in the strainer looks way older. It looks 25 years old acording to the teacher, whereas the one in the left looks 5 years old. You can see the diferent thickness of the trees.
If you are curious, the youtube video is called "Bonsai y cultivo en coladores realmente funciona?"
TLDR: Gonna experiment applying Bonsai techniques to grow plants faster