Community

Posted 1M ago by @PiousWaterfern

How to bottom water without.. well, bottom watering.

Gnats. That’s all I have to say.

We moved house recently and the landlord had this #DwarfUmbrellaTree in the hallway. All looks fine and dandy and just needs watering every so often to keep it going.

However, this is a BIG BOI. Much bigger than any of my other plants. Wayyy too heavy to lift and put in a tray every week (this would be a least a two person job just to lift the dang thing). So, I have to top water, which isn’t my preference for this very reason. I’ve noticed gnats.

I’m planning on getting neem oil and some sticky traps so that’s all taken care of, but how do I stop them coming back? The pot is sat on a tray which I could pour water into, but this guy is so tall and so heavy that I’m not sure I’d actually be able to lift him out of the tray to remove the excess water.

Does anyone have any plants like this or have experience with this? Any help would be really appreciated. This guy is right by the kitchen so having gnats around while preparing food isn’t ideal.

Please help 😭
#HappyPlants #gnats #PestControl #PlantAddict #PlantTherapy #PestsAndPlants #BottomWatering #help
13ft to light, indirect
14” pot with drainage
Last watered 4 weeks ago
If you decide to stick with bottom watering, a turkey baster comes in quite handy πŸ˜‰
Quick solution:Take some unused towels and soak up the water from the tray then squeeze it out.

Long-term solution: When conditions allow there is no direct contact between the pot and the tray, for example on a pot stand. The tray can then be moved around.Hopefully that will be of some help.
I don't personally have experience with them, but I've heard many folks rave about mosquito bits
@wulala404 @stephonicle thank you so much! Sometimes I forget about literal basic physics πŸ˜­πŸ˜‚ I’ll give those ideas a go, thanks!
Not sure how much you want to invest but I saw something similar to the pic on a social media post about same thing. A little battery operated water pump. I’ve never tried it so can’t endorse one in particular but put a pic for reference. Hope you find a good solution. Gnats are the worst.
Try getting a plant saucers to place under the pot so you don’t have to move the plant and can still bottom water. Hope this helps good luck!
@PiousWaterfern Anytime! ☺️ Also, this Reddit post might be worth checking out. It offers some very thorough advice for killing both the adult gnats AND their eggs (Reddit links won't open in Greg, so you'll have to copy & paste the link into your browser)
https://www.reddit.com/r/houseplants/s/wKwSNwtISE
@stephonicle great, thanks! Quick question though, is it standard for neem oil to come in a jelly form that you then melt..? I’m super busy with exams this week so was looking on amazing for neem oil and it’s all jelly 😭
Oil become like jelly should because the cold weather. Try putting it in a warm room and waiting for it to warm up.
@PiousWaterfern it's a somewhat thick, viscous oil, but it shouldn't be like jelly. Maybe let it come to room temp. You'll also be mixing a small amount with water and soap, then shaking the living hell out of it, so the thickness should dissipate by then πŸ˜‰
honestly I would use the string tactic here. set your pot in a permanent, bigger pot so that the pot is not touching the bottom of the bigger pot. Then, insert a string through the drainage holes of your pot and fill the larger pot with water so that the water line touches the dangling string, but does not touch the drainage holes themselves. Monitor the water level easily by using a clear larger pot. Ideally, you should arrange it so that you can stick a funnel between the upper and lower pot, allowing you to water without lifting the top pot
unfortunately it is very difficult to remove excess water with this tactic, but I use this on 2 of my plants and I only really change the water once every few months and they do just fine. As long as you're not seeing algae or fungus buildup, you should be fine. Yes, you will still have to lift the pot once every few months, but it's better than weekly or bi-weekly!
actually what if you cut a hole in the bottom of the larger pot that you plugged and unplugged? There ya go!
oh also I should warn that the string tactic will leave your pot constantly damp. It can be very bad for plants that need little water and I've never had it cause root rot, but I'm sure it easily could thanks to damp conditions. I'm sure you could combat this easily by just leaving the bottom unplugged most of the time and only plugging it when it needs water. So I guess ignore the previous statement
@SesameSeeds777 thanks for the ideas! The pot it’s in right now is the landlord’s so maybe not the best shout to be drilling holes lmao, but putting it in a smaller pot and then putting that in the original pot doesn’t sound too bad. Thanks :)
So I couple years ago I had a lemon tree same problem in a big pot to heavy to lift. So I got one of these to set in the drainage pan and set the plant on. It let the plant not be sitting in any excess water. We use them in restaurants for tomatoes
@PiousWaterfern the mosquito drops work wonders. And, sprinkling the top of the soil with cinnamon to combat fungus. And not overwatering. On some of my plants that like more moisture I just give small sips of water more often to help with that.
As I use a simple cheap turkey baster to remove excesss water. πŸ’¦ It is something I use very often nothing special needed. Mosquito Bits work great but I will warn you that they do mold. So if you use them I would let them soak in the water overnight, I use a laundry delicates bag the netting kind to stick the bits in and it makes a tea.
That way you don’t have unsightly moldy mosquito bits on your soil.