Source of Pots for Bulk Purchase

I need some 1L and 2L pots, probably 1,000 x 1L and 2,000 x 2.5L. I want some decent reusable pots (e.g. Sankey black ones), not the flimsy one-trip-only ones. If anyone has suggestions they would be appreciated.

last time I bought a bulk load it was from JFC Monro. They are a bit of a distance from me, so carriage might be prohibitive for a small order like this, but as a starting point their prices are:

1,100 x 1L Soparco £67.80
2,000 x 2.5L Soparco £272.25

I'm not mad about the Soparco pots, they have a shaped base (rather than flat) and when you pot-on that leaves air gaps at the base of the original rootball.

FWIW The Sankey ones I have are flat-base

Plan: I have about 150 Holm Oaks in 1L pots, and 300 Holly in 1L pots which will need potting on, I'm figuring I won't be able to pot on 1L to 2L, so it will need to be 2.5L

I have a further 100 or so Holm oaks in 3" pots that will need 1L pots (can probably be the ones above when they are released)

I had a look at some pots of Box cuttings I made in Autumn 2010 and although they have no top growth, yet, it turns out they have substantial root growth. They need potting on now, before growth starts, as getting them out of the pots where they are all crammed in as cuttings is going to cause some trauma. I reckon there are about 1,000 cutting that have rooted. 1/4 of those may go into 3" pots, but the rest will need 1L and I reckon by the end of the season they will be needing potting on again? hence the 2.5L for them too

I can't see the Holm Oak and Holly being ready to pot on until mid Summer - so no opportunity to reuse them for the Box :( but I'm open to ideas

 

planters and plant pots
Here they have all sizes in bulk.

 

I got 1,000 7x7x8 pots from these at a reasonable price when no one else supplies them any more. Fairly close to you.
Contact Dejex Commercial Horticultural Supplies Lincolnshire

 

Thanks chaps, useful advice. catztail I'm afraid that they don't work out all that cheap for large quantities (although I will mail them to ask if I would qualify for better discount). I've come across them before on my travels for "giant" pots, they have a great range :thumb:

JWK I have some lazy-raised-beds in the "nursery beds" area of the veg patch that would do. Some of the cuttings have very little root, so they could go into 3" pots for a bit, but the more robust ones could probably go straight out. Would be much easier to look after them in a nursery bed than watering 1,000 x 1L pots every day! ... BUT!! ... I'm nervous about losing them though, after taking 18 months to get the cuttings to well-rooted stage.

Do you think they will have bulked up enough to be put in final location this Autumn? or will it be another season? If another season I think I'm more inclined to use a nursery bed, but if this Autumn then I think pots might be better (I'll be able to hurry-them-up by keeping them under cover until, say, May and then plying them with fertilizer through the summer etc if they are in pots I reckon)

Anyone graphically minded here? I need to design a parterre now ... and design is something I'm useless at. I was thinking of something that combines my wife and my first initials ...

This picture from Helmingham Hall, pattern top-left is an A (including upside-down one) and pattern bottom-right is a T (4-ways-about) representing his-and-hers initials. Mind you ... there is also a tree there which He gave to Her with a plaque that says something like "To Lady Tollemache from Lord Tollemache on the occasion of ..." - rather formal don't you think?!!

 

What letters to use Kristen "K+?"

Steve...

 

Ah, sorry, that would have been handy info to provide!

K + N :thumb:

Or do you think it should be "K+r+i+s+t+e+n" ? :Heehee:

The other "parterre / knot beds" at Helmingham are apparently themed on some of the ancient lattice work from the house itself. I think that's a nice touch :thumb:

 

How is this for a concept similar to your photo above?



Complete with brick paving!

Steve...

[edit] "K+r+i+s+t+e+n" can be done in council style elsewhere on your plot, geraniums and cinereria perhaps?

Steve...

 

Wow! I think that looks AMAZING! (Dunno how Arty folk do stuff like that, the K looks like an N [or "inherits attributes of, or somesuch] and vice-versa, which is perfect of course. I'd love to be able to have the thought process that could do that)

I've ordered the Geraniums and Cinneraria. I went for Scarlet to match the bricks I've ordered !!

Thanks a million

 

The cuttings aren't that small - some are smaller than 6", but generally they are about 6"

But once I bust up the 2L pot they contains ten or a dozen of them then they all need potting on, and I reckon that the ones with very few, relatively small, roots will fare better in a small pot, and then being potted on, rather than planted out or into a bigger pot (in my mind is all the usual stuff about the benefit of potting on being not having a large pot with loads of wet soil around relatively small root ball)

"Of course I might be wrong "

Nah, I'm confident that our collective heads kicking it about a bit will lead to a sensible decision. My only nervousness is a) not done Box before and b) 1,000 of the blighter is a lot to get wrong (well, more importantly, 18 months is a lot of growing-time to lose ....)

I've been to the shed and counted the empty pots, and I reckon I have 300-400 of each of 2L and 3L, so I may only need to top-up on 1L pots ... the nursery clearance I did some years ago had way too many large pots, and way too few small ones !!

 

Kristen,

I found this site yesterday and made an enquiry for a pricelist.

Hadopots? - polythene plant pots and plant bags, plastic pots, polypots, bag pots Thses are poly pots, very cheap and should help you out

BLACK POLYTHENE PLANT CONTAINERS

Quality polypots – with real drainage holes

1lt capacity, £16.19 per 1000, £80.95 per box of 5000.
2lt capacity, £20.50 per 1000, £61.50 per box of 3000

Carriage on all orders of 10 boxes or less (ex-VAT)

1 box - £9.00
2 boxes - £17.00
3 boxes - £24.00

It might be a solution for you. Let me know if you would like the full price list and I will email it to you (word document).

Steve...

 

hadn't thought of those. I have used them before (deep but narrow ones I used for Sweetpeas a couple of years ago [from Eagle Sweetpeas if anyone is interested], and I did use them for Shrubs I was growing to sell for pocket money as a teenager).

I have two immediately thoughts (well, three if you include "They are CHEAP"!! which is A Good Thing of course)

1. Awkward to fill. When I pot-on I use an empty pot of the size of the current pot as a "template" and fill the new pot with compost, around the "template", firm it down a bit, remove the "template", knock the plant out of its old contain and it fits snugly into the new pot (with zero disturbance). Its quite quick to do too (compared to knocking out first, and then adding compost around its rootball in the new larger pot, as you are trying to keep all the foliage out of the way of the filling operation).

That approach would be much more fiddly with plastic-bag-pots. When I've used them I have had to make a "funnel" out of light cardboard to keep the plastic bag open, and prevent it collapsing, whilst being filled.

Maybe I could fashion something like that but which also allowed me to have the "template" in place, so I could then pop the plant into the hole left by the "template". I think the lack of rigidity (compared to a rigid plastic pot) might mean that when you remove the "template" the compost would be likely to collapse

2. I think plastic-bag-pots need to be final-pots. I would not want to pot on FROM a plastic bag pot. The rootball will not be a consistent size, so my pre-fill around a "template" approach definitely would not work.

Now ... I have no idea how much I will need to pot these chaps on, perhaps others do?

If I knew that these cuttings would be ready to plant out next Autumn, and a 1L (say) would do, then I would be confident to go with Plastic Bags. I'll be able to tell you the answer when I've done it the once :thumb: but right now I have no idea.

If anyone else has a view I'd appreciate hearing it. I'm pretty sure I see them for sale in 2L pots, so I reckon I either pot up, now, straight to 2L (which I think is way too big for the plant size), or I go rigid for 1L and then consider pot-on to plastic bags for 2L.

It would be a cracking idea for any plants that I was growing to sell / swap though :thumb:

I'll try to work on shorter answers in future - give up "verbage" for Lent perhaps? !!

 

I see what you say about your template, BUT, your a Gardener, you would adapt a method to suit, and after potting on 10-20 you would be in full work -flow mode.

Again, potting on from 1l to 2l you'd just find a similar container as your new "template" and get on with the job.You might be a bit lop sided though with that extra couple of hundred pounds in one pocket. !!

Maybe this will help fill the bags? It's a chip scoop!



Steve...