shopping Where do you buy pots and supplies?

I am curious to know where folk buy treys, pots, and other supplies?  I've been switching from local garden suppliers to online purchases because even with shipping, if you buy more than a couple of something it seems the online nursery and green house suppliers are more affordable.

So I guess the question is local or online?
 
Seed trays I just buy the 72 cell hex trays from Home Depot. They come with the tray and are pretty cheap already. I really like the hex shape cells. If I need 5 gallon buckets, the Donut Connection right down the road sells icing buckets for a buck a piece. Or I just buy the Walmart reusable shopping bags as containers, hold about 7 gallons. All container/starter mix is bought local since shipping sucks on items like that. Only wish I could find worm castings local. Not worth starting my own worm bin.
 
For shade cloth, black nursery pots, weed barrier, etc I use greenhousemegastore.com. Also use Amazon sometimes if they're cheaper. Most of the time I use Amazon for ferts and such.
 
Have only had one bad experience with Amazon and ferts. 1 gallon of Foliage Pro Grow and 1 piece of bubble pak in a large box just doesn't cut it. Cap and seal broke and I received only 3/4 of a gallon. What a freaking mess. On the plus side, I was reimbursed 100% so ended up with free fertilizer.
 
Scorched, I love greenhousemegastore.com  Our Lows doesnt have treys out yet, but I recall them being about the same price as other shops.  Rural King has the plug trays out with the standard water catching tray for under it.  The combination is somewhere around five bucks.  In quantity, I think mega store has them for less than two bucks.  I am sure it is due to quantity, but damn fine savings.

Have also been ordering plastic sheeting from them.  Even their cheapest product is fine quality for the price.
 
If you have a commercial wholesaler nearby, it's worth checking with them because many will sell to the general public. I learned this from Wicked Mike. I got all of my mix materials and slow release ferts from Southern Ag this past year and saved a lot. For instance, you can go to Home Depot and get a 2 cu ft bag of perlite for 16.97, or get a 4 cu ft bag of perlite from Southern Ag for 10.44. Or get a 1 cu ft bag of good quality compost manure for 2.00 from Southern Ag vs. 5.00 or 6.00 of black kow from Lowes/Home Depot. If you're needing a lot, it's worth sourcing out something cheaper.
 
I lucked out and scored a bunch of 3 gal nursery pots for free this year from our local nursery. The plants did really well considering the small space, but this year I'm going to move up to 10 gal grow bags and maybe fewer plants. I don't remember the brand or source, but I found some on eBay fairly cheap, I think 50 for around 30.00.
 
Peter, ye I am about an hour from any sense of a major city.  Love living here, but it does make somethings much cheaper via the internet than the gas and hours in route to pick a thing up.
 
I always shop local since we have some great garden stores here in Winnipeg or just outside the perimeter.
Sage Herb Gardens is one that we are very lucky to have that sells only organic fertilizers and has a sweet selection of rare herbs and plants. Lots of natural products and some very cool gifts, not to be missed if you're in the area
 
Seeds - I try to buy a fair amount from good vendors.  W/o them, the entire hobby will suffer.
 
Seed trays are small plastic cups in a tray, convenience store carrier, cardboard box with holes, or the like.  I'm a fan of starting plants in bigger containers, just to avoid fiddling with transplanting, rapid dehydration in the Aridzona climate, and to avoid roots getting entangled in the drain holes of smaller tray containers.
 
Plastic pots from the local nursery's discard pile. (Watch for black widows!)  Got several 15+ gal pots ready to go.   :)
 
This year, I'm going 100% Wallybag.  At 6+ gal, they're much bigger than the faux-5-gallon pots.  More importantly, they breathe so much better than plastic pots, which is good for evaporative cooling and root gas exchange.
 
Soil - I dunnow.  For 2015 I tried ~70% composted mulch and that that didn't work out so well.   :(   I'll re-use it, but at a greatly reduced percentage.  Will use much more peat, moo poo, and the occasional bag of quality potting soil whenever I stumble on a sale or torn-bag discount.
 
For ferts and the like, I try to buy from the nursery on the corner if their prices aren't vastly higher than at the evil Big Box stores. Gonna try fish soup as a primary mid-season fertilizer. 
 
ajdrew said:
I am curious to know where folk buy treys, pots, and other supplies?  I've been switching from local garden suppliers to online purchases because even with shipping, if you buy more than a couple of something it seems the online nursery and green house suppliers are more affordable.

So I guess the question is local or online?
 
I buy most things online, mainly because of convenience... You just have to pay for shipping and wait.
 
And it can be both local and online...
 
For example, few days ago I bought 5 bags of soil from a store a few kilometers away from my home and it costed way less than if I go there and then return with all that weight.
 
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