Is it necessary to disinfect pots before reusing them?

Today it was a great day, gardening-wise
There is a horticultural business in my area which does a lot of commercial installations and renewals, and the owner let me have a bunch of large pots for free.
Which is great news, in that I am experimenting with self-watering pots, and drilling holes in new pots seems like a pity.

Just, is it a good idea to sterilize pots , beyond giving them a thorough wash with warm water?
If that's the case, what would you suggest using?

Thanks for reading, I hope someone can give me an answer

 

Some do an kntense disinfecting but I don't. I reuse my pots year after year and only scrub them with a brush.Let them thorouhly dry and leave in the sun a few days before using again.

I did once have a couple that had stubborn stuff on trhem and I used a little bleach to get rid. Then let thoroughly dry... etc..

Reminds me of a landscaper here who, this year, has had all of his plantings in pots and gardens dug up. And they keep finding more and more body parts.... Glad I've never dealt with that dude!

 

I always wash mine with jeyes fluid to be on the safe side and then give them a good rinse and let them air dry.

 

I give mine a good shake on top of soil or pots .
If there's soil still in there , what the hell, I might end up with new plant:rasp:

 

Hi,

Tend to just wash mine with washing up liquid etc but if you want to disifect, rather than cover everything with Jeyes Fluid there are a few alternatives that do pots and greenhouse and are less smelly !

 

Thanks everybody for all the info and advice, much appreciated!

In principle I would not bother to go beyond washing and scrubbing, unless I knew that the previous occupant of the pot died of some awful pestilence.
But in this case, I simply do not know what was in there before. I understand that sometimes they are removed because they are not doing well, but mainly because they overgrow the pot size, and their clients prefer relatively small pots.

In doubt, I think I will treat the pots with one of the products you suggested. Considered I am quite inexperienced at gardening, I guess there is no point adding uncertainty, just one thing less to worry about..
Thanks again

 

Now, that is a bit extreme..
I was reassured than no body parts were ever stored in the pots!
They do have an extremely large composting bin though, and they seemed very secretive about it, now that you mention..

 

Hit and miss with me but diseases and pests are on the increase big time so washing with disinfectant is sensible.
However, always with seed sowing and cuttings pots need to be clean

 

You garden on a different scale Shiney........ 6000 pots!!

 

I have to admit that I have never disinfected a plant pot. I don't often scrub them out, either.

Loose soil is tapped out, and they are stacked away. It may be a year before I use them, so I reckon any pest or fungus etc will have desiccated by the time I wet the pot again. The same goes with seed trays. I use the 10-slot bedding plant modules, normally 2 seeds in each module, for sowing. They have been stored under the shed for up to 10 months, with heat in the summer and cold in the winter. I think anything that can survive that will also survive a quick douse of chemicals....

 

That looks pretty much like the huge piles I have got my new pots from!
And yes, it tooks quite some scrubbing to clean them, and lots of effort to get them unstuck too.
But well worth it

 

Thanks for the advice, appreciated
We are having a family trip to Brussels this summer, just a few days but it will be our first time there and I think we will enjoy it a lot.

 

I used to disinfect every year with jayes fluid, dont bother anymore, life is too short