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Anyone know of a cheap source for small, sturdy pots?

R

RandyS

I'm looking for small, new plastic pots, but I can't anything local without spending tons of money (for something not very practical, and far too big) or spending far, far too much online.

I used to buy small pots for dirt cheap at a hydroponics store in Berkeley, California. Sadly, they lost their lease, and I have not heard of them reappearing. They sold the sorts of pots pictured for pennies--5 or 10 cents a pot. I'm finding nothing close to that now.

These are very basic plastic pots, and are very sturdy. They are perfect for seedlings and rooted cuttings. The 3 inch green ones combine with inverted 10 oz plastic cups to make a pot with a humidity dome.

At this point the best I can do is use clear 10 oz plastic cups, and punch holes in the bottom. That's unsatisfactory for many purposes.

If anyone knows of good, cheap online sources, or a retail store in the SF Bay Area, I'd appreciate hearing. My best guess locally at this point would be San Lorenzo Nursery in Santa Cruz, but Santa Cruz is a bit of a drive (50 miles, 1+ hour). And that's only a guess...

Thanks for any suggestions anyone might have.

Small plant pots.jpg
 
This is the sort of nonsense I found at a local hardware store today. I tried Home Depot a couple weeks ago--the smallest they had were 5 inch pots. Obviously, even a 3 or 2.5 inch pot of one of these would be unacceptable. It's not the simple design I'm looking for, and the price is obscene for a piece of plastic.

Pots at Dale Hardware.jpg
 
Grey Moss said:

I use these for my seedlings and small cuttings. They're pretty sturdy and not that expensive.
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50 cents each is actually horrendously expensive compared to what I'm used to. I'm pretty sure I used to pay 5 cents each for 3 inch pots, 3 or 4 years ago. That store was amazing. I used to leave with huge stacks of pots (a couple hundred), and pay them next to nothing. It was a bit of a trip to get there (45+ minutes, and a bridge toll, but worth it). And I really would like circular pots, because it creates a mini terrarium for something like B. bogneri (and soon B. pteridoides) to grow in, and ultimately be shipped in. A 3 inch clear plastic cup and a 3 inch round pot fit together perfectly. That difference is huge to me. Otherwise, I would use a clear plastic cup as a pot instead. And even those are about 15 cents each, a lot more than I'm used to paying.

Maybe I'm just spoiled, but I'm sure the hydroponics store got their cheap pots somewhere, so it seems there must be a source, wholesale at least.

I used to joke that I was going to the pot store.
 
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An example: these might be 3 inch, or maybe they are 2.5 inch , sold as 3 inch. People always seem to exaggerate pot size. There's no way to tell. Regardless, it's anywhere from 55 cents each if you buy 10, or 26 cents each for 240. Why so much?

www.etsy.com

3 Small Round Hard Plastic Flower Pots Brown - Etsy

This Indoor Planters item by DogwoodFarmStore has 473 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Reinholds, PA. Listed on Aug 23, 2023
www.etsy.com www.etsy.com
 
One of the local greenhouses around here gives those kinds of pots away if you happen to be there on the right day and ask for them, esp. if you are buying something. Stop by a few of the greenhouses in your area and ask, maybe they can help you out.
 
Huntsmanshorn said:
One of the local greenhouses around here gives those kinds of pots away if you happen to be there on the right day and ask for them, esp. if you are buying something. Stop by a few of the greenhouses in your area and ask, maybe they can help you out.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Getting something for free seems unlikely in this area, but I could be wrong. There are very few independent nurseries left, especially given the huge population. Places like Home Depot have essentially taken over, except for the occasional small specialty nurseries. Property values are just far too high. I think individuals sell used pots somewhat cheaply on places like Nextdoor, Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. However, I'd really like to stick to unused pots, if possible, for a number of reasons, including potential contamination, salt, etc., problems. I just don't want to have to introduce more variables. If I'm desperate, there might be ways around it, such as a long soak in a weak bleach solution, but that would be a hassle that I'd really just prefer to just avoid. I'd also like to find a reliable source of these exact pots, so that I didn't have to be constantly scrambling for them, and hoping that what I find is "good enough". I used to have a completely reliable source, and I knew what I was getting. If plants start dying, I really don't want to have to worry about something completely preventable such as whatever came with an old pot. If they are hard to find plants, that would be really tragic.

I think actually more likely could be a small specialty nursery that buys pots wholesale, and is willing to sell a few new ones. Such a place would be difficult to find. Or possibly a different hydroponics store, or some other place that can sell such things cheaply. However, I don't know of any, which is why I ask. There are a fair number of people online who live in the SF Bay Area. I remember someone posed exactly the same question on a Bay Area only Facebook houseplant forum (she was looking for the same 2.5 inch pots for Pinguiculas she propagates). She got nowhere.

So if I can't find these exact pots, which should be pretty common, I'd prefer to stick to alternatives which I know won't at least introduce new problems, such as the clear plastic cups which are unused, and which I can find in the grocery store.


Besides the 10 oz clear plastic cups, I often use these small 3 oz plastic cups from Target as partial substitutes for the 2.5 inch terra cotta colored pots. They are a bit smaller, and not as strong, which limits their usefulness, particularly when it comes to shipping. But for seedlings, they make life a lot easier. These are 3 or 4 dollars for 150, and I know they are clean, so they are a great deal.

3 oz plastic cups.jpg
 
Possible success.

I found these on Amazon, after missing this earlier:


The 3.3 inch diameter is closer to 3 inches than the 3.5 inch I was finding most other places. I measured the clear plastic cups, and the outer edge of the lip is 3.25 inches, so hopefully it works to combine the two. The price is also considerably better than other sources. So I ordered a set of 50, scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. Total cost was $14.39, not great, but 29 cents each. I'm curious how sturdy they are.

If I like them, from the same source I can order 100 2.5" pots for $1 more than the 50 I just ordered, or about $15.

So the smaller pots would work out to about 15 cents each from this source. Again, these prices are a lot more than I'm used to, but much, much less than I would pay at a nursery or hardware store.
 
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Pots received. I'm hoping they'll be fine. They are definitely a little wider than what I'm used to, so slightly greater in volume. A clear plastic 10 oz cup fits on the top, but not quite as snugly as with a 3.0 inch diameter pot. I think it will work for shipping, although I'll probably wrap tape around the pot + clear plastic cup in a direction perpendicular to what's shown here, to add some stability. For growing things here. it should be fine.

They are less rigid than I'm used to, but somewhat flexible rather than weak. Hopefully they stay durable over time.

New cup with transparent dome.jpg
 
Yeah same here - I'm having a hard time finding cp-appropriate sturdy 4" pots. It's like everyone assumes you either need a 2" seedling pot or an 8" cement decorative planter, and if it's 4" its some wide succulent/bonsai planter because 4x4 isn't assumed to be a final size of a plant that isn't going to move up to another pot size. I guess 4x4 is only supposed to be a flimsy nursery planter that isn't a permanent home. I've been using sturdier deli pasta salad cup-like containers or those big yogourt cups with holes massacred into them (by me) in a pinch, but it'd be really nice just to order a stack of 12 from somewhere that don't cost like $5 each.
 
RandyS said:
I'm looking for small, new plastic pots, but I can't anything local without spending tons of money (for something not very practical, and far too big) or spending far, far too much online.

I used to buy small pots for dirt cheap at a hydroponics store in Berkeley, California. Sadly, they lost their lease, and I have not heard of them reappearing. They sold the sorts of pots pictured for pennies--5 or 10 cents a pot. I'm finding nothing close to that now.

These are very basic plastic pots, and are very sturdy. They are perfect for seedlings and rooted cuttings. The 3 inch green ones combine with inverted 10 oz plastic cups to make a pot with a humidity dome.

At this point the best I can do is use clear 10 oz plastic cups, and punch holes in the bottom. That's unsatisfactory for many purposes.

If anyone knows of good, cheap online sources, or a retail store in the SF Bay Area, I'd appreciate hearing. My best guess locally at this point would be San Lorenzo Nursery in Santa Cruz, but Santa Cruz is a bit of a drive (50 miles, 1+ hour). And that's only a guess...

Thanks for any suggestions anyone might have.

View attachment 11986
Click to expand...
Greenhousemegastore or BootstrapFarmer
 
PhilipS said:
Greenhousemegastore or BootstrapFarmer
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had the first one suggested earlier by friends. The round pots start at 3.5 inches, which is much too large to meet up with the 10 oz plastic cups. I just checked the other one. They don't seem to sell small round pots?

Regardless, I'm fairly happy with what I found on Amazon.
 
PhilipS said:
Check with your local medical garden supply.
Click to expand...
Is that the same as a hydroponics store? Unfortunately, that's the one that went away, and nobody around here seems to know of a suitable replacement. I think they were the major supplier of that community, for years. I used to drive 40 miles to go to that place. I'm not familiar with other hydroponics stores, and I could check some out, just in case.

In principle, some of the hydro stores have photos of at least part of their inventory online. There are tons of photos. With a quick search I'm not finding anything. One place showed small round mesh pots, slightly larger square pots, and a couple others showed large round pots.

There must be local hydroponics forums on FB. Maybe posting on one of those would be helpful?
 
I received the pots and they're a little maleable but not easily squashed so I'm good with my purchase.
 
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