Why do novices always use clay pots?

[willow]

Good morning. I have sealed my terracotta and are now non porous so i think the sealant needs to be replaced every few years. I think they look nice and i only have a few, one large one in plastic and unfortunately in peat from where it was bought! The others are in long toms as they have tap roots and the ario bravoannus has just finished flowering now the ario agavoides is just putting up a flower bud! They are growing in 2 parts John Inne compost and the rest a mix of Sanicat litter , limestone chippings and course sand that has been sieved.
I do not have a green house but a very hot conservatory, so have to keep the numbers down! OH complains of cluttering!

[DaveW]

Perhaps it should really be titled "Why do novices in the USA always use clay pots" since in the UK most novices use plastic pots because clay pots are only in minority use here among gardeners, plastics tending to have taken over from them in the late 1960's. Clays are still used by a few, but by some gardeners for an antique or decorative effect to give their gardens an old fashioned or period look rather than for any cultivation reasons.

[Steve Johnson]

I have sealed my terracotta and are now non porous so i think the sealant needs to be replaced every few years.

Good move, although how often the sealant should be replaced depends on material. Mine is a water-based product, and the manufacturer claims it'll last for 10 years. Hopefully the label on your sealant will tell you how long it's supposed to last. Even if the claim re. the product I'm using is correct, I've considered my decision on waterproofing terracotta only as a stopgap. Which brings me to this...

While I do find glazed ceramic pots more attractive, this is a secondary reason only. Glazed ceramic lasts forever, which I'll take over replacing cracked plastic pots or keeping up on degraded sealant.

[oldcat61]

I'm still having a hard time finding nice 3" & 4" ceramic pots. I like the " matchy-matchy" look so I want 50 or so all alike. IKEA is working for the larger sizes. I just hate the look of square plastic pots & I don't like them all squashed in a grid on staging; I prefer mixing size & shapes. We're all snobs in our own ways. Sue

[Rod Smith]

Perhaps it should really be titled "Why do novices in the USA always use clay pots" since in the UK most novices use plastic pots because clay pots are only in minority use here among gardeners, plastics tending to have taken over from them in the late 1960's. Clays are still used by a few, but by some gardeners for an antique or decorative effect to give their gardens an old fashioned or period look rather than for any cultivation reasons.

I use mainly plastic pots, Dave, but for tricky plants that rot easily I usually use clay. This is the case with Mammillaria guelzowiana, for example and I've got a few more plants like that. It's easy to get sucked into the attitude "I always do it this way" without thinking why. Looking at some of the earlier comments, I suppose another way of preventing rot is to use plastic pots but make sure to use a very free draining mix for planting.

Whatever I do as regards compost, pots, watering & feeding I like to think I always have a good reason for doing something in a particular way. That said, we all make mistakes but the secret of success is to establish what went wrong and correct it next time around. I've had two or three plants lose their roots this year, through overwatering I think, and in each case I've managed to save the plant and re-root it, repotting in clay pots. Time will tell if this is successful.

[DaveW]

I think you will agree though Rod that clay pots are now only a tiny percentage of the pot usage in the UK, either by novices or more experienced collectors in all plant hobbies? Their use started to decline in the late 1960's as I said and Sankeys, about 4-5 miles away from me in Bulwell, then the premier clay pot makers in the UK stopped producing them years ago and switched to plastics due to lack of demand.

A quote from Wikipedia:-

"Sankeys

Richard Sankey and Son Ltd, perhaps the best known manufacturer of earthenware flower pots in the world, was founded in 1855 at Bulwell. Their clay flower pots were stamped "Sankeys Bulwell Nottingham" around the circumference beneath the rim. Production of terracotta pots ceased in the early 1980s because of competition from plastic."

Many of the smaller cheap clay pots in the UK often come from China or Asia. Only the high priced niche market large ornamental terrace pots are worth making any more for British manufacturers. As said before not all terracotta pots are as porous as you think, some clays used and the degree of firing can make them virtually impervious to water. An easy way to tell the ones that do allow the passage of water to evaporate is if white salts or fluorescence regularly builds up on the outside of the pot and needs constantly cleaning off, one reason most who showed plants switched to plastic!

If you are not having to regularly clean off the white discoloration on the outside of terracotta pots as in the link below they are not as porous as you believe and more akin to glazed or sealed pots. In fact modern terracotta pots may be higher fired and from more impervious clays since people these days don't like to continually have to clean them. Also the more porous ones are less frost resistant outside due to being saturated and freezing causing them to laminate, which is why less porous clays now tend to be used:-

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-a ... -clay-pots" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[oldcat61]

Interesting point about the salt buildup. I acquired a bunch of used pots that have a lot of buildup. Never did get them cleaned. But none has formed on the new clay pots I've been using for the last 2-3 years. Difference in water or fertilizer a factor? I have a well & my husband plumbed the GH supply in before the water treatment so its ph is around 4-5. Maybe in spring I'll repot a bunch & check the roots. Sue

[Rod Smith]

I think you will agree though Rod that clay pots are now only a tiny percentage of the pot usage in the UK, either by novices or more experienced collectors in all plant hobbies?

I agree 100% Dave.

Interesting point about the salt buildup. I acquired a bunch of used pots that have a lot of buildup. Never did get them cleaned. But none has formed on the new clay pots I've been using for the last 2-3 years. Difference in water or fertilizer a factor? I have a well & my husband plumbed the GH supply in before the water treatment so its ph is around 4-5. Maybe in spring I'll repot a bunch & check the roots. Sue

I think the source of water is the key factor, Sue. If water contains lots of calcium (ie hard water), this will eventually start to crystallize on the pots, giving an unsightly white bloom. I used to get this years ago when I used clay pots for everything and watered with tap water in a hard water area. I now use only rainwater on my cacti and succulents and there is never any trace of salt buiuldup on the few clay pots that I use.

[keith]

I don't use shallow pots anymore for cactus the deeper pots leave more room for small gravel at the bottom which helps in drainage.

Many book recommend azalea pots for cactus so the roots don't rot. I think that's poor advice deep pots with gravel in the bottom will drain better.

Sensitive species put 1/2 gravel in the bottom of the pot. This makes a heavy pot maybe you could use pumice or lava rock if that bugs you.

[cortez753]

Never been a big fan of gravel just at the bottom of the pot, medium should be consistant throughout entire pot. As for pot depth I say deep for columners and species with tap roots, shallow for squat. Pot material does'nt matter to me as long as its not metal.

[One Windowsill]

I stopped buying clay pots when I realised that many were now treated with plastic. This made them useless for baking bread in.

[JustSayNotoCactus]

Ok, you got me. Baking bread???

[DaveW]

See:-

http://www.food.com/recipe/rustic-flowe ... lls-256869" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2366 ... rpot-bread" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[keith]

I wonder if oil based polyurethane brushed on the inside of a clay pot would help keep the pot from drying out so quickly ? I have a can of this left over from a wood shelve project.

I used to spray paint them using cans of paint bought at a local hardware store, the stuff sold behind the metal gate to prevent taggers from shop lifting it.

[DaveW]

In the 1960's with the general change to plastic pots in the UK one of our old members said he could not afford to change all his clay pots for plastic so painted them all inside with Ronseal Polyurethane Varnish, and as far as I know had no problem with it. I don't know if it is similar to your product:-

http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/ultra-tough-varnish" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You could always do a trial pot and then pot up a spare plant to see you have no unwanted reaction.