terracotta pots. Frost proofing.

Is it possible to make non-frost resistant pots resistant to frost?
I have a water feature that consists of a large terracotta bowl, and three smaller bowls, where water runs down into and circulates back up again.
I don't want to use it as a water feature anymore, so have decided to put plants into them.
I will drill drainage holes, naturally, fill with compost and plant up.
I don't want to pick them up and put in the green house over winter, so is there something you can apply to them to make them frost proof?
Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

 

Hi there,
I can't really answer your question, sorry. However, we have quite a lot of ornamental teracotta pots that we know aren't frost resistant and they were all fine last winter, and we're probably colder than you here, so I suppose I'm saying maybe they will be ok. Having said that, as you know, it was quite mild last year. What about bubble wrap? It would be easy to manipulate.

 

Thanks Bekimac. Don't fancy bubble wrap, though I have heard of painting sealant on to give a longer life span to them from frost.
Have you heard of this?
I think I'll try it.
As you've said, they may be OK without any protection, but it is a risk, so I'll try the sealant I think. Many thanks and best wishes.

 

Fonzie. Cold, by itself, cannot hurt a pot. But when water freezes it expands and thats what does the damage.

There are two types of damage. If a pot freezes solid, which has wet soil in it. The water will expand and could crack the whole pot. This can happen to any pot - frost-proof or frost-resistant. The solution to this is to not let it get too wet. I have a pot that is too big to lift so I remove the plants and can just cover it with a bin liner, to keep the water out. If it has plants in it, you could try mixing some big bits of polystyrene with the soil, so that when the frozen soil expands it crushes the polystyrene rather than splitting the pot. A tennis ball floating in the top of a plastic water butt, has the same effect and is remarkably effective at protecting the butt.

The second effect is when the water soaks into the porous terracotta and expands on freezing. It will chip off bits. The solution is to keep it dry, if possible. You could also seal it - you probably need to do both sides. Any paint or waterproof varnish would do. I have never done it but it was suggested that I ask for the sealent that they use for aquariums.

 

Thanks PeterS, have taken all your points on board and will take the routes you suggest.

 

Hi Fonzie

Some time ago I saw a garden makeover program where someone wanted terracotta tiles from North Africe in their garden. The team installed them, then painted them with a sealant that would make them waterproof. So another suggestion is to try a tile shop that sells terracotta tiles.

 

Thompsons water seal or the like.

 

I was told by the head gardener locally that to protect your pots you should stand them on wood I have done that and mine were ok last year, just slats to keep them off direct contact with the frozen ground.

 

my pots have been outside for 4 years and never cracked . and the same pots cracked last year next door the secrets is not in the pot but in the drainage holes . the more water in the pot more chance of it freeing and splitting the pots and putting the pots on slats of would helps to. failing this its pot :D luck

 

S pot on Ste. i'll second that make sure they drain well,you can even wrap some insulation around the pots this will also help protect the roots from freezing.

 

A major reason why plants die over the winter is not the cold but the wet. I recently read a suggestion to tip the pots on their side to keep them dry. This could protect the plants and the pots as well.

 

I coat my pots in unibond and they survive well, especially if put on feet off the ground.

 

Unibond as Crysocoall says is great stuff, but you really have to apply it to a completely dry pot.
I had a water feature - a fountain, that cracked due to frost (my stupid fault due to not emptying it in winter) and repaired it with glass fibre and resin.

 

Resin, that rings a bell Dave.
How about coating pots in epoxy resin, I've used something called "West system" resin as a coating in the past. I think its mainly aimed at the boat enthusiast for making repairs to fibreglass, but its totally waterproof and I cant see why it shouldn't work on terracotta.
It even works as a chemical fixing for bolts in masonary, so I'm sure it would work.

 

The problem with coating the pots is that you change the appearance and not always for the good. I either leave them (to crack) or stand them on wooden supports - terra cotta pots are great but you sometimes have to accept that some are better made than others. They crack because of the stresses induced by both weather conditions and how you treat them...........