The Water-Bottle Upside-Down Planters: The Limitations

We finally started potting our new herbs into the upside-down planters we constructed a few days ago. The planters are extremely sleek and compact and can be made at practically no cost what-so-ever. While construction was fun, repotting wasn't as much fun. The only plants that we could fit into the small opening are the single stemmed ones that don't have much foliage.  I think using this pot design is more appropriate for growing single cuttings, because of the difficulty of passing the stems through the base without damaging the plant.

Upside-Down Planter made from reused water bottles, decorative paper, reused electrical wire and glue

Top part of planter with base of plastic bottle inverted and perforated to act as water receptacle

The base of the water bottle that is inserted into the top of planter to act as water receptacle

With a single cutting, one would first fill the planter with soil and then pass the cutting through the opening. For repotting larger herbs rethinking the design is a must. Following the same repotting technique of the BOSKKE Sky Planter, using discarded paint buckets with tight fitting lids could solve this problem. Instead of trying to repot while the plant is inverted, we can repot while the plant is standing, fit the lid and invert it.  In the next few days I will experiment with some construction ideas and will post about it.

Bottom part of planter, this is where the stem and leaves come out. This is also the top part of water bottle, which was inverted through gentle heating with hair dryer

Fibre mesh to keep soil in when inverted

For now, we've managed to pot our basil plant, but we ran out of compost. The next few days we will be getting more compost and repotting a few more of our herbs into these small planters.

Repotted basil plant in its new planter

HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT

Repotting can be traumatic for plant so we will be using a one time dose of a homeopathic mix which includes Arnica, Calendula, Dulcamara, Gelsemium and Nux Vomica to help transition the plant into its new home!