Inexpensive large containers?

I need some large containers for blueberry plants. The ones at the garden centre cost a fortune. Anyone any ideas for cheap alternatives? (and my skills really don't extend to making my own...)

 

I don't think the big black plastic ones are that expensive, we're growing some fruit trees in four of them, they came from Idealworld as part of a "deal" although they sell them separately, but work out a bit more expensive,

http://www.idealworld.tv/4_x_30_Lit...cation=//idealworld/en_GB/categories@lt;{8035}


Alttenatively have you tried B&Q?

As they are likely to be used year on year, they do need to be reasonably substantial, so I'd call them more like an investment "written down" over a few years.

 

Plastic cold water tanks from a plumbers merchants aren't that expensive or if you know a plumber he might find you an old galvanised one thats been taken out.

Try freecycle and see what comes up

 

Thanks Doghouse Riley - you got me Googling, as I like big pots. I would agree with you. Last year I bought some that look identical from a local nursery. As they specialised in trees they had some exceedingly big pots there. I bought 30 litre ones at £4 each and 50 litre ones for £8. I have rather gone off terracotta pots. They look lovely, but they weigh such a lot and often only have a small capacity. By contrast those weigh very little, have a large capacity, and I also liked the handles, which means that you can have even bigger ones that take two people to lift.

If I make make one suggestion, if you intend to keep any plant for a long time in a container - don't use too much compost. Compost, being organic, rots with time creating a very fine material that will interfere with the drainage. For long term use soil based material is recommended.

Just Googled this http://www.thegardensuperstore.co.uk/acatalog/Extra_Large_Plant_Pots.html -looks like the same pot - but goes up to 130 litres! - but if you look further on the site they have 500 litre plant pots!!!

 

Try a builders merchants or somewhere like Wickes. They have those great big plastic and rubber tubs pretty cheap, much cheaper than the GC.

 

Very useful replies - thanks everyone!

 

In Homebase one time I saw a load of large terracotta pots going for £1.49 each instead of the normal price of over a tenner. The reason was they all had tiny chips in them around the rim. I didn't buy them as I didn't need any at the time, but I was tempted.

My point is sometimes shops have seconds, faulty goods, which are perfectly up to the job but sold off at knocked down prices because they are imperfect and they just want rid of them so they can get the new batch in their place.

 

We've got these grey frost-proof pot containers for our patio "collection"



We've six in all and they were £15 each at a local garden centre which I don't think was too bad. They're about 16" in diameter. Any bigger and I guess they would be rather heavy to move, other than what we do, which is just to rotate them 180° every week or so in the summer.

As someone has already said the plastic ones with the handles are easy to carry between a couple of people.
But there are a few bargains about now, we bought some big square plastic tubs for our potatoes from B&Q at this time last year and they were less than half price and had no damage at all.

 

http://www.thegardensuperstore.co.uk/acatalog/Extra_Large_Plant_Pots.html

I have used these before.:gnthb:

 

Hi,


Almost all my planters are plastic-the older ones are stone or terracotta because I was younger and stronger then and manouvring them was easy enough. Like you I don't like the aesthetics of the plastic ones so I have used paint effects on them all to age them or mimic the natural variations of stone or copper and pewter etc wit some degree of success. Plasti-kote has a range of paints I have found to be pretty durable, and I have used other techniques-sand mixed in with enamel paint, and other similar things.


Wilkinsons usually have larger plastic planters that are very good value, as do the seasonal shelves at Asda, Home bargains, Poundstretcher etc all stock them at good prices and once you have used the different paint effect techniques on them they are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, cheaper and easier to move around-especially if you re- use the polystyrene packaging (you invariably have left over after Christmas or delivery of white goods or electrical equipment) as crocks in the base, although sometimes it is safer and more practical to use something heavier to stop a tall or top heavy plant from toppling over on windy days. The types with the handles on ( those that trees are usually planted in) look a bit to much like buckets for ornamental stuff although I have found them brilliant for growing spuds in this last year.


Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the link - I have a Fig tree that needs repotting this winter and one of those would do nicely.

 

They are good quality not the hard plastic type. I have loads, great for trees etc. I also use them for tidying up trugs.

 

Even more replies - what a brilliant forum this is! Husband has also suggested containers for mixing plaster, and, as Doghouse Reilly suggested B & Q, think I'll go down there this weekend.

 

There are definitely some interesting items out there if you look around. I'd have been tempted by those chipped pots too! But I don't think they're quite as good when you're trying to grow fruits and veg.

I've been growing tomatoes for the last two years, and I got a growbag that really holds a lot, I've been really impressed with it. It was very cheap too, definitely worth it I think.

Here's the link if you're interested:

[FONT=&quot]http://www.primrose-london.co.uk/reusable-growbag-p-6354.html[/FONT]