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Indoor hypertufa trough planter - seal or not to seal?

13 years ago

I had a hypertufa trough planter made for me that cracked after about 6 months of use. I had another made, this time a bit thicker and I'm about to re-plant in it. There are no drainage holes as this sits atop a wood window sill. But I'm hoping I can still prevent this one from cracking.

Can I place a heavy duty plastic liner inside the trough? Or would I be better off using an acrylic sealer on just the inside of the planter instead?

I know tufas are meant to be porous but the location of the planter and the previous cracking incident compel me to do it.

A bit more info: The planter is in a Southeast facing window in Taos, NM (full seasons, sometimes with extreme temp variation).

I greatly appreciate any advice you may lend. Thanks in advance!

Nicole

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Comments (4)

billie_ann
13 years ago
Nicole, Do you know what caused the first trough to crack? Are you saying that the temperature in the window made the trough break? Did the trough freeze? Or was the trough too thin? Was there a weak spot or void from air pocket or large piece of peat moss that caused the crack?
Your best bet against leaks would be a plastic liner.
I don't know the temps in your area. My hypertufa from little 2" pots to 3' troughs freeze in the Winter and bake in the Summer.
whirlgirlz
Original Author
13 years ago
Sorry I'm not responding sooner! I didn't get an email notification. So, in terms of the cracking, I don't know for sure. It could have been a combination of temperature (cracked in early winter), excess water at times and being too thin (I asked for it to be a tad thinner than normal). The only other theory I have is that I placed felt "feet" at the bottom so that it wouldn't scrape the wood when moving it. I guess it's possible that the points between the feet were weakened by this. The crack, from what I could tell, started at the bottom of the planter and grew up.

Thanks for your suggestion of plastic liner! I'll give that a try.
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I dislike my brick fireplace. I painted it white and that helped, but I still don't like looking at it. I've made hypertufa troughs and planters. I can envision a new face on the surround of my fireplace (not the interior firebrick) and the chimney breast and the raised hearth. I think it wood look great! I would fashion the "rocks" to look like river rocks, some small and some as large as 8 inches in diameter. I think I could make them like hollow bowls and attach them with something like liquid nails (need to research that part!) I thought I would start by asking the hypertufa gurus if this is a good and safe idea. If so, what would the right adhesive be, what's the best way to color the rocks to give them some individuality, and what would you suggest for different molds? I promise before and after pictures if this gets a thumbs up from you guys.
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
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So what are you growing in this trough? Because plants need drainage, and plastic liners will completely eliminate the whole concept of aeration and drainage. How are you going to drain the water from the plants?
club53
13 years ago
Your trough sits on south facing window sill outside of the window? If it is going to frequently get wet and then freeze, if it was made too porous, it will crack. If you make it so that it holds water (by sealing it up) you are asking for trouble if it will then fill with water and freeze. By its nature, cement is "cracky" and cracks are not a fatal thing with troughs. You can fix the cracks in your existing trough by using Goop or some other acrylic. That will normally work; Goop will hold a trough that has broken into pieces together.

Don't think that the felt feet would have anything to do with the problem; nor the temperature fluctuations. Granted, it is scorching hot in that NM sun, but that shouldn't do it. Sounds like it either had a weak spot like Billie Ann said or it kept soaking up water and then freezing, which it would have to do quite a bit to crack. How thin were the walls? Had it frozen a few times before it cracked?

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