If you’re a houseplant lover, you’re likely well aware of the fact that successfully caring for plants indoors can be a bit of a balancing act. Between making sure they get enough light, not overwatering them, and repotting them on time so they don’t become root bound—there’s a lot you need to remember to ensure your plant babies stay happy and healthy.
Sometimes, even when it seems you’ve done everything right, you inexplicably lose a beloved plant. While the loss often feels sudden, the issues are usually quite literally brewing under the surface for some time. One of the challenges of growing houseplants is that the first signs of distress often occur under the soil with the plant’s roots. Unless you’re regularly pulling your plant out of it’s pot to check the roots (a messy, inconvenient, and potentially damaging endeavor) these signs are easy to miss.
Luckily, there’s an innovative new planter that might just change the game for houseplant lovers who experience these frustrations. Push Planter was created by award-winning, Chicago-based multi-disciplinary design studio Crucial Detail, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign it’s almost ready for you to try out for yourself.
Push Planters feature a “pushable” bottom that allows you to easily pop your plants up and out of the pots to see what’s going on beneath the surface. This can help you catch watering issues early (goodbye, root rot!) and make the repotting process easier and faster with less disruption to the plant’s roots.
CRUCIAL DETAIL
“The Push Planters are versatile and durable, equally comfortable indoors on your windowsill or outside on your porch," the Push Planter Kickstarter page reads. "We designed them to be well draining to prevent root rot. At the same time, the unglazed terracotta foot allows water to wick back up into the soil as needed."
Martin Kastner, founder of Crucial Detail and product designer behind Push Planter tells us that the project was inspired by his wife’s love of gardening and indoor plants. After one-too-many incidents of broken pots and damaged roots during repotting, Kastner wondered if modified pots could make the process easier.
“I mocked up a few versions of easy-repotting planters and settled on the push-up system as one that seemed the most practical," he says. "After a couple of years of using the pots at the studio, we decided to see whether other people outside of our friend circle would also appreciate them and prepared the Kickstarter.”
Kastner says since transitioning his container plants to Push Planters, he’s seen a drastic improvement in their overall health and how they transition from one growth stage to the next.
“The Push Planters have worked really well for herbs like sage and rosemary, and we’ve seen our aloe vera develop much faster [too]," he says. "We’ve intentionally made the bases pretty thick so while the pots drain very well, they also retain moisture in the walls so even humidity-loving plants like calathea or ferns—that we seem to otherwise quickly kill in conventional pots—have been doing well in them."
Now that the Kickstarter campaign has concluded, the Crucial Detail team is working on the production and fulfillment phase. Once that is complete, they’ll work on getting the Push Planters available for purchase directly on their website and eventually in other retailers.
“Ultimately, our goal will be to grow the collection, add shapes and colors, and continue to develop accessories for the urban gardener,” Kastner says.