Hi All -

Happy New Year!

I am trying to find the best way to use the insect screen shown in the 2nd picture below to seal the side and bottom holes in the nursery pot so the gritty mix won't escape.

I have tried the following:

1. Cut a piece of the screen and use a rubber band to secure the screen onto the bottom and bottom/side of the pot then fill with gritty mix. This generally works but due to the pot not being so firm some of the gritty mix comes out and is held between the pot and screen. Also there is a fair amount extra screen around the edges that makes the whole thing not look as good unless I trim the extra with scissors.

2. Cut a piece of screen ~ 16 inches x 16 inches and shove the whole piece inside the pot. Down side: wasted space inside the pot because it is difficult to get a uniform covering within the pot.

3. Cut a small square piece of screen to cover the hole in the bottom of the pot and another separate rectangular piece of screen to form into a cylinder to go around the inside of the pot. Down side: hard to seal the cylinder during the fill with gritty mix and usually by the time the pot is filled the screen is no longer overlapping, which may actually work but I thought it better to have it overlapped. I used tape to tape the cylinder but actually the tape held so well as to not let the cylinder expand during the fill. This may be the best option but I will need to make the cylinder bigger to tape with more overlap during the fill.

4. Perhaps put a piece of tape on the holes on the side to cover them and use a small piece of screen on the bottom to keep the gritty mix inside. Since it is gritty mix The hole in the bottom should be enough to provide adequate drainage?

I will also do an online search to see if I can buy nursery pots with the holes only in the bottom and not the sides,

Thanks for any insight.

Brian