Maintenance Tips - Air Guidelines

Despite the fact that air is important to healthy plant growth, controlling it may seem like something beyond your control. However, knowledge of how air affects plant growth can help you keep the plants healthy.

Air Environment (Temperature)

First, consider the overall environment your planter occupies. Is it close to the house (and therefore receiving reflected heat from the house), or surrounded by other plants (and therefore benefiting from cooler temperatures and higher humidity)? Does the planter sit where it will get exposed to strong air pollutants (i.e. downwind of car exhaust, or fumes from other machinery)? Does the planter sit where it will be affected by high winds?

All of these factors can affect the plants' overall health and vigor. You may not be able to change the environment the plants grow in, but awareness of that environment can help you adapt to an individual planter's watering, fertilizing, and pruning needs. Remember, planters placed on asphalt, concrete, or against a light-colored house may experience warmer air temperatures due to the reflective heat from near-by surfaces. Planters in areas such as these may require more watering than planters placed in garden spaces, or surrounded by other plants.

Aeration

Second, because you control how much water the planter receives, you also control how much air the root system is exposed to between waterings. Roots do not like to sit in water, they need a chance to air out, or breath; by allowing the plant to use the water in the reservoir before refilling it, you give the roots the breathing space they need.

Air can also be a problem if there is too much of it, i.e. wind. On windy days the soil dries faster and the reservoir may require refilling more often.

Updated August 2006