What do you do with old nursery pots?

[Hedge]

I am very sad (!) - I keep them in my potting shed. I wash them all after use, but I have so many that I usually have a washing day on the lawn in summer. They are stored stacked in large (14inch) black bins, grouped by size. The bins stand on a shelf made from plastic window sill turned up so there is a rim to stop them falling off and I have the size in cm marked beneath each bin on the shelf edge.

That's the theory.

In practice there are a lot of pots which need to be washed stacked on the floor. And seed trays and those six pack modules, all of which I used earlier this year to grow veg.......

In short, I have plenty of clean ones but the dirty ones are taking over the asylum

Oh, and all my special orchid pots are kept in the house - they don't mix with the common pots!!

Regards

Heather

[Oscarman]

I am so wary (read paranoid) of virus transmission that I do not reuse them for orchids - only new pots for them. Instead I recycle them at a local greenhouse that has a "Take and Pot, Leave a Pot" used plant pot exchange.

Are we really sure virus is killed and eliminated after a bleach soak? What if you don't get 100% of the plant, media residue removed?

Without a 100% guarantee, it new for me!

[natasha]

i also love new pots, but at my place theres no such thing as recycling center for pots. and i don't like the idea of throwing them to the bin. i soak overnight (sometimes two nights!), scrub twice - before & after soaking. i'm cleaning all of my stacks before painting... still in progress of washing & scrubbing

[kinknstein]

I do not use old pots for orchids usually. Hence I have hundreds of old pots in my garage, I do clean some of them though and use them as risers for some of my chids which need to move closer to the lights.

[b amateur]

we have recycle bins provided by our refuse service here,so if it's not reused,Its turned into more pots.

[charitysmama]

Originally Posted by natasha

i plan to paint some pots to give them new look & new lease of life. anyone have done this? if so, please let me know what type of paint to use? most of my old pots are black. i hate black pots, i'll rather spend some money and buy new pots. but i still keep them, and the pile is getting higher.

i also wash and reuse some to plant seedlings and divisions to give away.

Krylon makes a paint in a can called "Fusion". It comes in several colors and is for plastic. I have used the clear as a basecoat on plastic and then used another color over it. I have used the colored ones as well. I haven't tried it on black pots, but it worked great on my RV door.