Do you struggle with buying pots because all of the pretty ones usually don't have drainage holes? I get it. And pretty much every plant you bring home requires a well draining soil - so a pot without drainage seems counter-intuitive. Although planting your new plant in a pot without drainage may not be your first choice, there are a couple ways to still make that pot work.
The first, and easiest way to make the pot without drainage holes work for you is to simply use it as a cover pot. Essentially, you are just going to leave your new plant in his nursery pot, or if it's time for a re-pot you are going to select a plain pot with drainage and then place that pot inside of the pretty pot. There are actually a couple benefits to this that you may not have even thought of. By doing it this way, your cover pot is the saucer ensuring that when you water you're not letting water sit on the stand that your plant is on. You could also easily bottom water this way (bottom watering has SO many benefits including mitigating pests, especially fungus gnats as well as avoiding over-watering). Basically you would remove your plant from the cover pot, bottom water and then replace it in the cover pot once its' thirst is quenched. If you love yourself some root porn - you could also choose to plant your plant in a clear pot and then use the cover pot to still make it look pretty outside of when you want to inspect the roots. The downside to this is that you may have a hard time finding a pot that fits perfectly inside the cover pot. So, if you don't like this option, what else can you do?
My go-to, because I am a sucker for pretty pots is to create drainage. I don't mean by drilling holes or anything crazy - although that is an option if you choose to go that way. This is actually an easy way to create drainage in any pot you have, even the unconventional ones. Gather all of your materials first; you need gravel, soil, coffee filters, your plant and obviously your new pot. First, you are going to put a layer of gravel at the bottom of the pot. I use aquarium gravel if I have a 6" pot or smaller and I use regular gravel for any pots above 8". The gravel is allowing space for the water to drain to so you do want this to be about an inch or more depending on how deep your pot is. Next step (and this one is important so don't skip), you need to place a coffee filter on top of the gravel. This is to keep the soil from packing down into the gravel which then would defeat the purpose of your gravel layer. Your coffee filter needs to cover the gravel fully and it needs to come up the sides slightly so if you're planting in a larger pot, you'll probably need multiple coffee filters. Next is the soil, make sure you're using a soil that is appropriate for the plant that you will be planting in this pot. This is definitely not the BEST way to plant your plant because you will have to be very careful not to over-water or if you're planning to hang this pot the gravel will make it pretty heavy but I have tried and tested it multiple times. Many of my plants are in pots that don't have drainage holes and they thrive but I do not recommend this method for picky plants.
Watch my video below to see step-by-step my easy way to add drainage to your pretty, non-draining pots. And say hi to my little assistant, Peanut 😅
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