Have you ever tried growing kangkong in a pot? If you find it hard to grow these plants, you are not alone.
Kangkong is also called Water Spinach, Water Convolvulus, and Chinese Watercress. They’re edible plants that florish under tropical conditions and thrive under cool weather conditions.
Kangkong can grow in a pot that’s 12 inches deep and 2 cm diameter. Fill the pot with loam soil that’s well mixed with compost. Create a 2-inch deep hole and drop 2 – 3 seeds inside. Then, expose the pot with the sown seeds to full light and water to keep the soil most — up to 2 inches deep.
Pot provides us the opportunity to control the climatic conditions through which we grow kangkong. It helps to offer a solution to the lack of nutrients kangkong experience when grown in the garden.
In this article, you’ll discover the complete guide on how to grow kangkong in a pot.
Let’s get started.
Is Every Planter Pots Suitable for Kangkong?
Some people make the mistake of using any kind of pots to cultivate kangkong. Unknown to them, not all pots provide the enabling environment to cultivate the plants.
There are some pots that have the capacity to intensify any weather condition you expose them to. These Pots includes:
- Metal pots
- Concrete pots
- Ceramic pots
During cold weather, the above pots are extremely cold internally. Kangkong thrive under cold weather but when it is extremely cold, it destroys the roots.
Likewise, when the weather is hot, these pots become hotter internally. If the weather temperature is more than 87 degree celsius during summer, the pots become extremely hot inside, which is not good for the plants’ roots as well.
You need pots that maintain neutral state in any weather conditions, irrespective of the climatic changes — pots that’ll not intensify the climate internally. Such are the types of pots you can use to grow Kangkong.
Below are some of the pots that doesn’t influence the weather conditions internally:
- Clay pot
- Plastic pot
- Terracotta pot
- Wooden pot
These pots maintain the same degree of weather conditions both inside and outside. The above pots have the capacity to make the weather conditions conducive for the plants to thrive.
In addition, they have a drain system feature built into them, which allows the water to flow out gently as you water the plants.
Extremely cold and hotness that pot generates internally, affects water kangkong growth rate — causes weak leaves and tiny stems. Internal increases of the weather conditions also breaks the soil apart. We shall discuss soil in our next subheading.
Use Planter Pot of 12 – 15 Inches Deep To Grow Kangkong
The plants have fibrous roots that’s why you need to use a spacious and deep pot.
The 12 – 15 inches deep and 2 cm diameter pot is good for growing kangkong because they spread their roots as they grow.
Shallow pots affect the rate at which the plants grow and develop. It also causes early death of the plants.
One of the functions of deep pot is to hold water for days — keep nutrients for the plant to absorb once photosynthesis takes place.
How healthy kangkong looks, depends on its ability to spread its fibrous roots. The more they spread their roots the more greenish they look.
About 12 inches deep pot is sizable enough to grow healthy kangkong. The deep features make the pot good to cultivate 2 – 3 seeds of kangkong. Also, such pots make water kangkong to blossom under tropical conditions and thrive under cold climates.
Use Loam Soil Mixed With Compost TO Grow Kangkong
Kangkong needs soil that has the capacity to hold nutrients and water for days — loam is the ideal soil to cultivate kangkong in a pot.
Loam soil is made up of 3 components:
- Sand
- Silt
- Clay
When preparing loam soil to grow kangkong in a pot, the 3 components must be of equal measurements.
For example, if you use a 12 inches deep pot, the soil mixtures should be in the ratio: 3 : 3 : 3 : 3. This means, 3 percent sand, 3 percent silt, 3 percent clay, and 3 percent compost.
No component should be more than the others. Use the same measurement for all the components including compost.
Pot size is another feature that determines the mixture ratio you’ll choose. Excellent mixture will make kangkong grow healthy and thrive under cold climate. The combination of soil with compost creates the perfect soil texture for kangkong to blossom in the pot.
The Functions of Loam Soil Components
Each component of loam soil performs different functions.
Sand helps in the filtration process. Clay holds the nutrient for kangkong to absorb, while silt components help to provide the acidic and alkaline substance kangkong need for healthy growth.
The components allow easy penetration of water among the roots. The plant is able to absorb nutrients easily when loam soil is used to cultivate it in a pot.
Loam soil does absorb water in a little quantity — it doesn’t create water log that causes roots rots. It’s like a filter, which filters out water and holds nutrients back.
Loam soil that is properly mixed with compost makes water kangkong to grow in a pot the same way it blossoms on the ground.
Lack of a proper mixture, causes water logs in the pot that affect the leaves. If the compost (e.g., fertilizer) is higher than loam soil, the leaves become yellow instead of green.
However, disease can also cause yellowish leaves. Not only improper mixtures of soil that cause it. Mainly, improper mixture is the easy way for kangkong leaves to become yellowish.
Therefore, it’s important to mix the soil very well. You can get mixed soil from any local shop close to you, if you don’t have the measurement scale.
Soak Kangkong Seeds For 24 hours Before Planting
Soaking kangkong seeds is very important before planting it in a pot — it helps to speed up the germination process. The idea is to soften the outer part of the seeds for easy development of roots.
The seeds need to be inside water for a day if you want them to sprout out in a few days once you plant in rich nutrients soil.
Irrespective of where you get kangkong seeds from, either from the gardening store or online you still need to soak the seed.
Ensure you maintain 24 hours soaking, don’t exceed it. However, you can soak seeds for less than 24 hours but it shouldn’t exceed 24 hours. At least soak the seed for 12 hours if you don’t want to wait for 24 hours.
If you plant kangkong seeds without a day soaked hence, it will germinate but the process of germination will be delayed.
For example, If soaked seeds take 3 days to germinate, then it will take one week for the unsoaked seeds to germinate.
Soaking will save you from the long days of waiting for the seeds to sprout.
Don’t Overcrowd Pot With Kangkong Seeds
At this point, your pot is filled with quality texture soil that is well mixed with compost. The seeds are well soaked for 24 hours. Now you are ready to plant.
Create a 2 inches deep hole and drop 2 – 3 kangkong seeds. These seeds are suitable for about 12 inches deep pot. The pot has enough space for the plant to spread its fibrous roots.
When the seed is more than 3, there will not be enough space to grow and develop.
During hot weather, the plants will find it harder to thrive. Overcrowding is one of the reasons kangkong plants dry up even after germination because of insufficient nutrients.
Small size of pot doesn’t have the capacity to hold enough nutrients that plants can feed on, which causes yellowish leaves. Likewise, there will not be enough space for proper ventilation.
Different sizes of pots have a number of seeds they can successfully grow. Pot that is 15 inches deep with diameter can be used to grow 4 kangkong seeds.
When using a 15 inches deep pot, create two separate holes to plant the seeds.
Drop 2 seeds on each holes and cover it back with soil that you dig out. Irrigate the pot immediately after planting. I will discuss the watering process in the next subheading.
One of the ways to grow healthy kangkong, it’s by planting them in rich nutrient soil. You have to ensure that the soil inside the pot is well mixed with compost.
The first sign of poor quality soil is delay in germination even after soaking the seeds for 24 hours. The poor quality soil also affects the color of the leaves.
Maintain Planting Spacing Of 20 cm – 30 cm
You need to maintain an appropriate planting spacing if you want to grow blossom kangkong plants.
Planting spacing is important because it will enable light and vent to penetrate in between the plants.
Kangkong has leaves that spread around as they grow. Lack of space for kangkong to spread their leaves affect the growth.
Planting spacing distance is important just as mixed loam soil is important. Of what use is rich nutrients loam soil, when the plants don’t have planting spacing in between to spread.
Part of the factors that aid kangkong growth is planting space distance.
The location of where you’ll place the pot is what determines the planting spacing distance you will adopt.
If the pots are under growing light then you can choose 30cm (11 inches) spacing.
Places like balcony or garden where the plant receives direct full sunlight 20cm (8 inches) planting distance good — Because the plants are exposed to regular sunlight and natural vent.
Water Kangkong Plants Once Every 2 Days
Water the plant thoroughly immediately after you cover the holes. Get the soil soak with water but not to cause water logs.
Kangkong thrive in moist soil. Water helps the plants to establish their roots. Don’t relent in watering at the early stage. You can delay watering when they are approaching maturity.
Water kangkong every day for the very first week. This will help in break-up soil for the plants to sprout out without stress.
First week of watering is very important because it gives kangkong seeds the capacity to sprout out.
After the first week, reduce the number of times you water the plant. Start watering once in every 2 days to make the soil moist for the plants to grow.
Maintain 2 Inches Deep Soil Moist
The soil has to be 2 inches deep moist. At the initial time, the seeds need much water to germinate.
Water helps the seeds to develop roots and also helps to spread the roots as well. If the soil is not well moist, kangkong seeds will not develop roots easily and it will hinder their growth as well.
A well-watered rich nutrients soil helps to speed up the germination process of kangkong seeds. Instead of taking 2 weeks to germinate, it will grow in less than 2 weeks.
The conditions for speeding up the germination process of kangkong seeds depends on the water and soil.
Watering for the first week is very important, therefore you have to take it seriously. The soil must get 2 inches deep moist before you stop watering every day.
Use a water sprayer with an excellent nozzle to water the plants. The sprayer will help to drive down the water and get the soil moist the exact way you want it.
Irrespective of the size of the pot, maintain 2 inches deep moist. In short, a bigger size pot like 15 inches deep can be more than 2 inches moist.
Use a trowel to measure the deepness of the soil moisture or use fingers. Deep one of your fingers to check if the soil moist is up to 2 inches.
Ensure it gets to 2 inches deep. The length of one finger is less than an inch. So 2 inches will be 3x the length of one finger.
Kangkong Takes 8 – 10 Days To Germinate when Grow In a Pot
Pot enables you to control the growing environment. If the pot is indoors, you determine the climatic conditions. Pot provides the opportunity to grow kangkong with rich-nutrients soils. That’s why kangkong takes about 8 – 10 days to germinate.
Just as said before, soaking of seeds for 24 hours helps to speed up the germination process. If you don’t want kangkong seeds to spend 2 weeks germinate after planting on rich soil, then soak the seeds for 24 hours.
Kangkong Need Full Sunlight To Grow Blossom
Kangkong grows in both cold and hot climates. It needs full sunlight to grow, thrive under cold and blossom under hot weather, especially when the pot is indoor.
No matter the location of your kangkong plants, you need to expose the plant to full sunlight.
Even though your planter pot is indoors, you need to provide the plants full sunlight. Full light aid photosynthesis and helps to dry excess water. Full light is very essential, if you want the plant to blossom.
Partial light delays the growth of kangkong plants. Partial light slows down the development of leaves. Make the plant to spend more days before they germinate, especially when it’s through seeds.
Full light helps to speed up the process of germination and development of leaves. Whether indoors or outdoors, kangkong plants need full sunlight.
When growing indoors, you need growing light that has the capacity to provide full light. Not just full light but like full sunlight.
Kangkong Need 4 Hours Full Light Daily
Even though the plants can thrive under partial shade, they still need to be under the shade for a stipulated number of hours.
Likewise, the plant must spend some quality number of hours under full light, if you want to have healthy plants.
Kangkong plants will thrive or blossom when you expose them to at least 4 hours full light. When growing indoors, you still need to maintain the 4 hours full lights.
At the nursery stage, you can take the pot outside for the plants to receive at least 4 hours full sunlight.
Alternatively, get growing light that has the capacity to produce brightness that looks like sunlight.
Such growing light will help kangkong plants to develop leaves easily. Growing lights helps to speed up kangkong growth especially when you’re not in a tropical area.
If you find it difficult to get full light at your location, then use growing light in place of full sunlight. Growing light serves the same purpose to kangkong as full sunlight would have done.
Benefit of Using Pot To Grow Kangkong
Pot helps to solve the problem of loss of nutrients to other neighbouring plants when they are grown directly in garden soil.
Kangkong that is grown in a pot has fewer disease problems compared to those grown in the garden soil.
Insects that move from plant to plant in the garden are less likely to discover when kangkong is grown in a pot.
You can relocate the pot to another new position if you discover any pets that could cause disease or spray the plants.
You spend less time taking care of the plant when you use pot. Pot helps you to save money because you can use the water that drains out to re-water again.
Conclusion
Growing kangkong in a pot is not difficult or not achievable. It becomes difficult when you don’t know the process.
Now you have the complete guide on how to cultivate kangkong pots and containers, then go ahead to cultivate healthy Kangkong. Truly, Planting Kangkong in a pot helps to speed up the growth process by 3.4%.
Because you have the sole right to control the growing conditions, especially the environmental climatic conditions.