It's prolly not the media, but the watering practices that are most likely to be suspect. Both peat and bark-based soils, either singularly or in combination, become hydrophobic (water-repellent) as they dry below 30% moisture content. You should be watering more frequently, or also helpful, would be to water lightly & then return about 10 minutes later & water again.

The clay pot isn't making it worse, per se; but it does cause the soil to dry down more quickly than if you were not using a gas-permeable container like plastic or ceramic.

Re pot size: If anything, you're under-potted, but it may just be that your watering practices need to be tweaked or the soil blend adjusted to allow for longer intervals between watering. Incidentally, I regard a soil that requires watering once daily to be very desirable and if it holds good amounts of air - close to ideal.

Al

Hi Al,

Thanks for the fast response. Your knowledge never fails to amaze me. Seriously I think you should publish your own book on container gardening.

Another question, I found that if the pot already developed that dry pots, it's extremly hard to re-wet it. Is there any solution for this?

Thanks

I have a couple of containers that are extremely porous, and wick moisture from the potting medium very rapidly. I also have one container that has an odd shape and is difficult to water properly. Dry pockets will form quite readily. I find that these are plants that need to be soaked in the sink or in a tub for a few hours. I water the plant from the top, and the basin catches all of the run-off. I'll fill the basin so that the water is about 1/2 way up the container, and leave it. When I come back to drain the sink, a great deal of the water will have been absorbed into the plant tissues, the container, and all of those dry pockets will be saturated. This doesn't need to be done every time, but it sure helps the situation.

Does that make sense?

I think that's a great idea, fortunately I only have a couple of containers that have that problem. I can wait for Saturday and give them a bath one by one.

"Another question, I found that if the pot already developed that dry (s)pots, it's extremly hard to re-wet it. Is there any solution for this?"

What Dorie outlined is extremely effective at eliminating dry areas in your containers. You can also leave a little water in a saucer after watering to be absorbed by capillary action, or use a wick through a drain hole into a water reservoir.

Al