Garden Tray square 17,4 x 17,4 cm

A square plant tray of 17.4 by 17.4 centimetres and 4 centimetres deep, made for the square 7 litre growing pot. Black plastic.

What a saucer is for, and what it is not

A plant tray catches what comes out of the bottom of the pot. That sounds obvious, and it is where this most often goes wrong, because there is a second half that rarely gets said.

What you catch has to leave again. Leave the pot standing in its own run-off and the substrate simply draws it back up. The bottom centimetres of the ball then sit permanently saturated, no air reaches the roots, and you have used a saucer to create exactly the problem drainage holes were there to prevent.

On top of that, water that has run through is not what you poured in. The plant took water out and left salts behind, so what stands in the tray is more concentrated than your feed. Letting that be drawn back up is not thrift, it is damage.

So do it this way: water, wait a quarter of an hour for it to finish draining, and empty the tray. If you cannot manage that every time, put something between pot and tray that keeps the base clear, a grid or a couple of battens, so the collected water is not in contact with the bottom of the pot.

Why this tray is deep

Four centimetres is deep for these dimensions, and that is deliberate. It gives the tray a good litre of capacity, around a sixth of the volume of the 7 litre pot it belongs to. Water heavily and let plenty run through, and it stays inside the rim.

The tray is narrower than the top of the pot. That works because the pot tapers: the 20 centimetres in the product name is the measurement at the rim, and the base sits comfortably inside these 17.4 centimetres.

Technical Specifications:

• Dimensions: 17.4 x 17.4 x 4 cm
• Capacity: around 1.2 litres
• Colour: black
• Fits under: square pot 7 litre

Frequently asked questions

Does it fit the 6.5 litre pot? The 20 centimetre tray is meant for that one. This is tighter but usually works.

What is the difference from the 20 centimetre tray? That one is wider and flatter. Both hold about the same amount of water.

Can the pot stay standing in it? Not in the collected water. Empty the tray or keep the base of the pot clear.

Can I use it to water from below? Briefly: fill the tray, let the substrate draw it up, and pour the rest away after twenty minutes.