Not a good idea. You'll rot them in no time. Best bet would be to go to a bonsai nursery and find tiny pots with drain holes.

Some folks use a ceramic drill bit for drilling glazed ceramic, such as teacups from thrift stores or yard sales... You'll crack a few cups and the bits are spendy, but it is an option. (The resulting look is a little too cluttered to my eyes.) You might try the search bar for more on this topic.

But yeah, gravel in the bottom without holes won't provide enough drainage and aeration.

thank you for the feedback. I think i will stick to the mini terra cotta pot to be safe...better ugly pot than dead stonecrop :)

Also, you can always use the tiny terra cotta pots INSIDE a tea cup if you prefer that look. That's what's known as a cache pot, using an ornamental outer pot (or tea cup in your case) w/ an inner pot w/ drainage holes to allow the pot to drain.

pirate_girl's advice sounds great. Also... It probably goes without saying, but make sure the bottom of the terra cotta pots stays above any water that drains into the teacups (your "cache pots"). (Better yet, empty the teacups shortly after you water, every time.)

You don't want the bottom of the terra cotta pot sitting in any water. Otherwise the bottom of the pot will be starved of oxygen, which will kill any roots in that layer and promote rot.

I agree with pirate_girl as well. Just want to add that you could use the normal plastic pots instead of the terra cotta. Might be easier to fit them inside your tea cups, and won't stand out so much, either. Terra cotta is good for letting the soil breathe and all, but at the size we're talking it's not something I'd worry about.

Ever thought about making Hypertufa pots? Works great for succulents.

oze628: Sounds cool, but the original poster has a 3.5" inch windowsill. Now I'm curious... I had only heard of hypertufa for big pots. Is it useful and attractive for mini-pots, too?

DC,

IMO, no, it isn't, but I'd want something more finished if my 3.5" (8.89 cm) windowsills needed succulent adornment (and don't they all?).

Hi Jeffrey (cactusmcharris), I'm with you on that.

I had a Sansevieria cylindrica patula in a nice, little, rectangular, finished, terracotta pot which tapered a little at the base and fit perfectly on my narrow, kitchen windowsill... but alas it outgrew its pot. Now that sill is bare.

Eventually that plant grew a 5' (1.52 m) leaf, which wouldn't fit on most windowsills.

Another piece of advice - whatever pot you ultimately decide to use, do not add a gravel layer for drainage - it actually makes roots more likely to rot since the gravel has a much larger substrate size than your potting mix.

Use a uniform mix throughout the entirety of the pot.

x

And instead of gravel or potshards, cut a piece of screen material or something similar to cover the drainage holes.