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Too many plants, garden too small, need cheap plastic pots

Zarathustra

Zarathustra

any suggestions? I am looking for at least twenty to thirty plastic pots as I have 60+ pepper and tomato seedlings and only room for 30 odd plants in the garden. I am happy to give a few plants away to friends and family (pay it forward and what not) but want to keep at least 50 for myself.

This is my first year growing peppers so lesson learned an all, dig a bigger garden or plant fewer seeds...more than likely dig a bigger garden...
 
Not sure how big of pots you are looking for but check out craigslist. I found 5 gallon buckets, which work pretty well in my opinion for peppers, for $1 each, as many as I needed. I would check it out though.
 
Craigslist is a great resource. I have found use 5ga nursery pots for .07/ea, have a few hundred now. A few weeks back I purchased 300 1ga and 24 15 ga pots for $60. A lot of nurseries sell their used pots at a discount as well, search and I guarantee you will find a good deal.
 
Sams Club. If you are a member, they give me all the 5 gallon buckets I can use. They also have 3 gallon...
 
Another idea.. if you have a subdivision that is under construction, or something similar nearby.. watch for when they start doing landscaping.

You can probably swing by and scavenge a bunch of buckets off of them as they plant.
 
I have secured some five gallon buckets and will see what else I can round up today... Question about the buckets: How many drainage holes should I cut in the bottom and what seems to be the best tool for that job?
 
I usually use a 1/4" drill bit and a cordless drill... 4 or 5 holes in the bottom, place a good sized (golf ball) rock over each hole careful not to totally block drainage, then add my soil...
 
+1 to craigslist...

For buckets I typically use a 5/8" forstner bit and drill at least 10 holes on the bottom and 5 more on the sides about an inch up. When it comes to drainage more is better with peppers.

Quick search of CL in your area came up with some 3 gallons for 20 cent each per hundred. So $20. Little small, but would get you by...I'll keep looking.

http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/grd/2922721576.html

Here's another great deal...$75 for 1000 pots of various sizes up to 7 gallons. Says most are 3's. Looks to have quite a few 5's in there to. Then you could take what you want and put the rest right back on craigslist and make all your money back!

http://tampa.craigslist.org/psc/grd/2909569057.html

another...
http://tampa.craigslist.org/psc/grd/2885470273.html
 
stc3248 said:
+1 to craigslist...

For buckets I typically use a 5/8" forstner bit and drill at least 10 holes on the bottom and 5 more on the sides about an inch up. When it comes to drainage more is better with peppers.

Quick search of CL in your area came up with some 3 gallons for 20 cent each per hundred. So $20. Little small, but would get you by...I'll keep looking.

http://tampa.craigsl...2922721576.html

Here's another great deal...$75 for 1000 pots of various sizes up to 7 gallons. Says most are 3's. Looks to have quite a few 5's in there to. Then you could take what you want and put the rest right back on craigslist and make all your money back!

http://tampa.craigsl...2909569057.html

another...
http://tampa.craigsl...2885470273.html
Click to expand...

I went ahead and planted in the five buckets I already scored so far, I drilled 5 5/8" holes in the bottom of each so hopefully that will suffice, I will follow your advice for the next round and that will give me a side by side comparison if nothing else.

I saw those ads and decided to pass due to the hassle factor and the though of loading 100 dirty 3 gal pots into my car was less than appealing

I used 3 gallon for my thai sun chilis but I am not comfortable with the size for larger varieties

I have a couple good sources now for free five gallon buckets so I am just going to stick with that, I think white buckets may do better in the Florida sun anyhow

Thanks for the reply
 
Zarathustra said:
I went ahead and planted in the five buckets I already scored so far, I drilled 5 5/8" holes in the bottom of each so hopefully that will suffice, I will follow your advice for the next round and that will give me a side by side comparison if nothing else.

I saw those ads and decided to pass due to the hassle factor and the though of loading 100 dirty 3 gal pots into my car was less than appealing

I used 3 gallon for my thai sun chilis but I am not comfortable with the size for larger varieties

I have a couple good sources now for free five gallon buckets so I am just going to stick with that, I think white buckets may do better in the Florida sun anyhow

Thanks for the reply
Click to expand...
No problem! 5 gallon buckets are actually much larger than 5 gallon planters. A 5 gallon planter only really holds about 12 qts (3 gallons) of soil. So your plants should get much larger in the buckets. Good luck on your grow this season!

Shane
 
I got mine from a Steak and Shake. I drove by the dumpster and saw around 30 empty 5 gallon buckets of pickles being thrown out. Just clean them out and you are good. Last year I also got a bunch of 7 gallon nursery pots from a local nursery. The owner of the place said to charge me a dollar each but when the guy rang me up with all the soil I was getting he only charged me a penny each. The pots were in a pile that looked like they were going to the dumpster anyways.

Good luck with your search.
 
Try a local nursery or garden supply store - they recycle and/or give away pots from unsold or dead/destroyed plants. I have picked up 100's of containers, from seedling size to 5 gallon (more like 3 gallon!) plastic pots for free, and they are happy to see someone re-use them.

You'll need to clean and sterilize them before use with a 10% bleach solution - I soak the pots in a 'real' 5 gallon Home Depot homer bucket ($3), filled near the top with 4 gallons of water and 1/2 gallon of liquid bleach. Use unscented laundry bleach, and tap water in a 1-10 ratio. After rinsing the pots of loose organic residue, i soak the planting containers in the bleach solution for at least 30 minutes (longer if there is a lot of salt deposits or stuck-on root matter), then rinse off well (scrub/wipe tough spots using a sponge if needed).

I have some pots now going into a 4th use, and all it cost was a trip to the nursery and a couple bucks in bleach and water. :cool:
 
Definitely go the nursery route. They HAD to charge me something for them (not allowed to give them for free), so they charged me 5 cents a piece for all the containers I could get out of there. 3,5,7 gallon and a few even larger.

Met the ownerr of the nursery who is going to be a huge help to my growing in the future. Apparently somewhat of a chili head himself, and basically we agreed that if I will give him a few of my plants and hook him up with some pods later this summer, he'll hook me up with ProMix at his direct, wholesale cost. Can't beat that deal.
 
Yup get nice with your local nursery/greenhouse I gave some of my extra bhut and other not normal pepper seeds and I got 1250lb of cow poo for 15$ and today she tossed me about 30 1 gal pots for free.

From my iphone
 
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