Painting Clay Flower Pots?
DonnaCnj
21 years ago
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21 years agoTisha
21 years agoRelated Discussions
What makes a clay pot get slimy on the outside?
Comments (7)Dissolved solids in your tap water are a part of the accumulation on the pot's exterior. Water from the soil solution moves through the walls of the container, carrying dissolved solids from tap water and fertilizer solutions, as well as naturally occurring organic salts with it. When the water reaches the pot's exterior it evaporates and leaves behind everything that was dissolved in it. The only way these solutes could make it back into the container is if the flow of water was reversed. This would require that the solids on the pot exterior go back into solution and then migrate back into the soil solution. In order for that to happen, something needs to be seriously out of whack - like a pot that is continually wet outside and a dry plant inside the pot. The last thing you need to worry about are the salts that have already precipitated out of solution. Those are salts that are no longer a threat to your plants. Obviously, if you can see them they're not in the soil solution, though visible accumulations on the soil surface are good indicators that you should have a closer look at your soil choice and/or your watering habits and adjust as required. The ability to flush the soil each time you water is important to the best interest of your plants, and usually eliminates almost all of the salt accumulation on the soil surface, though it doesn't do much to slow deposits on the exterior pot walls. Basically, the water moves only one way - from inside to outside. Once the salts have collected on the exterior of the pot, they present no risk of elevated EC/TDS (roughly salt levels) of the soil solution. I have many pots of all sizes with thick crusts that you can flake off the outside of the terra cotta. Before repotting into these containers, I wash the inside with a bleach solution to kill anything harmful that's biotic, and don't even concern myself with the outside - I love the old, weathered look of terra cotta and the plants can't tell if the pots are 10 days fresh or 10 years old. Al...See MorePainting clay pots
Comments (2)Generally speaking, (and all questions of paint aside) clay pots aren't ideal for roses. You might have best luck putting your rose into a plastic pot of some sort, INSIDE your clay pot. And remember that you'll need to make sure that BOTH pots drain freely. That may require raising the clay pot up on pot feet or bricks, or something of the sort. Jeri...See MoreClay pots in a tub
Comments (4)Mazelady - I call my dogs my own personal aerators. Sometimes I call them other things too :-) It can be pretty frustrating. If you have good drainage I don't see why putting pots inside a tub wouldn't work. Another thing I've done is put tomato cages over plants when they're new transplants. The dogs usually are most interested in the soft dirt that you just dug in to plant something. If you protect the plants for a while they get established and let the dirt settle in it seems to help. But not the most attractive look when you have a bunch of cages in a flower bed. From what I understand some breeds are just more likely to dig and will even dig in established areas. The tomato cages probably wouldn't work as well with those dogs. Good luck - Lisa...See Moreclay pot candles
Comments (1)It's up to you if you want to seal them, unless you are using them outside. Then they should probably be sealed to protect the paint....See Moreerasmus_gw
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