I too bought trees and potted them. I found that the round tubs with rope handles work well for pots. My son drilled holes in the bottom and they were very cheap compared to actual pots. The downside is that they are not UV protected and will disintegrate more quickly, but I have been using some of mine for 5 years. If you decide to do this try to get the softest plastic you can find. I can't see what kind of plastic mine are but they feel like a laundry basket and they say, "crush and dent resistant". I have seen some lately that are brittle and they will just split when drilled.

Your other option is to contact landscaping companies. I was able to buy quite a few used large pots from a landscaping tree nursery at much less than half price of new.

if you have any farmers or ranchers around see if they have some cattle lick tubs , they are aprox 25 gal or so. I get all I want for free. Just drill a few holes around the bottom and you are good to go

I've been using the plastic tubs with the "rope" handles as well, although for berries, not trees. My local Ace Hardware always has an early Summer sale on them ($5 each!).

I agree that you want the softer plastic and I also recommend a rub-down of the exterior with Armor All twice a year--more often if you live in a climate with intense sun.

You could order them at Groworganic.com,

http://www.groworganic.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=desc&limit=300&order=relevance&q=pots&x=0amp;y=0

Deleting duplicated message

This post was edited by milehighgirl on Mon, Jul 29, 13 at 0:38

I grow citrus in containers and they tend to need re-potting often. Bark based media is the cheapest in this area but it tends to break down in a year or so. My back explained to me that lifting large trees in and out of pots was something only young people should be doing so I came up with a plan. Instead of real pots, I make these wire mesh cages that I line with landscape fabric and fill with media. The wire mesh is sold as rabbit cage wire or hardware cloth. I get the 30 inch tall roll and take an 8 foot section and loop it around to form a ring which I bind together with zip ties. When the trees start to show signs of needing new soil I can snip the plastic zip ties used to hold the whole thing together, peel back the fabric and carve away old soil. It sort of root prunes and freshens soil all in one easy motion. The drawbacks are that the "pots" take an obscene amount of media to fill and that you really can't move them. If your trees make a dense web of roots (like citrus can) then after a year or so you probably can scoot it across the floor by pushing on one side. I haven't tried that yet.

I'm not saying not use them, but i've used the large plastic tubs you buy at say Menards and the plastic becomes very brittle... Not sure what type of plastic they use, but I buy the 15 gallon nursery pots and they seem to hold up way better. I have some now that must be 5+ years and they look fine. I believe nursery pots are LDPE (HDPE?) and i'm almost sure they add a uv protector (titanium dioxide?)...

No matter what, just be careful moving anything around in very cold weather. Plastics all become very stiff and brittle in cold weather. Once i move mine in for the winter, i try not to touch them...they actually become frozen ...like big ice cubes (temps in the garage go to 0F or below..

I wonder if you couldn't even rub a layer of shellac on them for some add protection...

I've really come to appreciate fabric pots. Smart Pots are nice, but they're also a little pricey. I've switched to Root Pouches to keep the cost down. You'll find the best prices at Greenhouse Megastore and A.M. Leonard.