Tales from the allotment shed pots.

Evening all,
Well its like getting out of bed after a long nights sleep, that feeling of ive had enough rest now i want to do things,

Thats how im feeling know the weathers changing and the bulbs are pushing through, the buds on the flowering cherry are just starting to look sticky,

And the greenhouse is becoming a more attractive place to want to be in,
And its about this time of the year the "New gardener" will be looking at plants and also sowing seeds etc,

Pots.
Plastic or clay pots!
Is one better than the other?

Lets have a look at both and understand why plastic is different from clay pots.

Plastic.
Most pots you'll get your smaller plants in from the garden centre are made of plastic, Why? because they're cheaper to make,

The plastic pot differ in asmuch that as a norm they have a series of drainage holes around the bottom of the pot, And you'll find when you buy a plant in these pots and you want to re-pot to a larger size that you'll not find any small bits of croc or any other form of material to slow the water drainage down,

when you fill these plastic pots you do just that, fill them with compost no need to put any croc or small stones in the bottom as is done with clay pots, this is because plastic pots are made to drain off the water.


Plastic pots are a colder form of pot and do stay wet if they are placed on a saucer or bottom tray as they are not constructed to evaporate the water throught the plastic body of the pot unlike clay.

CLAY POTS.
Clay pots because of the material used tend to be both a warmer pot and cost more to buy,
A lot of gardeners like the clay pot because it will breath and take heat in through the clay, it also keeps the roots damp rather than wet as the clay soaks up water and this in time will dryout through evaporation even if the clay pot is standing in a saucer of water, in time the water will enter the clay material and evaporate through the natural breathing of the clay material, so you now have less chance of root rot or damage due to to much water.

Clay pots because they retain heat better than plastic are found to be better for the likes of geranium cuttings, if these cuttings are planted as close to the edges of the pot they tend to stay warmer and root better.

Clay pots have a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot and this is normaly covered with another broken bit of clay pot known as a croc, the idea being that the compost wont block this drainage hole and also so any water in the saucer can keep the bottom of the pot moist.

When using clay pots it should be understood that the pot will take water into its structure and so if you stand the pot in a saucer of water you can check to see if the compost is dry or moist by tapping on the side of the pot, if a thud sound is heared then the pots not dry in the centre.

So as you can see plastic and clay pots do have different drainage systems and heat retaining systems.

I myself only use clay pots for cuttings because of the warmth of the clay material and the fact that i can test by tapping to check how damp the compost is (with geraniums they dont like their roots wet they"d rather dry conditions than wet ones)

So thats a look at pots and why plastic ones have a series of drainage holes and clay ones dont and the advantages of each.
I hope the "Newer gardener" now can choose what pots they want and why.

Good gardening to you all,

 

Cheers Moonraker,

I prefer plastic pots now, as I dropped a girt clay one on my foot last August & broke both. Still hobbling like a Llame Llamma.