Storage of Transplant Pots and Containers

[greenthumbomaha]

Its that time to save containers for those that start tomatoes and peppers from seed. Mine are stored in plastic grocery bags and strewn about the house and garage waiting to be brushed out and hosed down. Bleaching is as needed in mid winter in my bathroom sink. I also save the carry trays from the store and reuse the 11X20 cheapo black seedling trays.

How and where do you keep this accumulation pf plastic? Please share pics if you dare

- Lisa

[Stvrob]

I just throw everything under a big camellia bush. It looks pretty trashy so I'll spare you the picture.

[habitat_gardener]

I store many containers in an extra compost bin. The spiders love the darkness and the nooks and crannies!

[Bulldog]

Garage which has too much stuff already in it

[Father'sDaughter]

I stack the pots then lay the stacks down in my 1020 trays and store the trays on the shelves under my shop lights. By the time I need to store the pots, the plants have all gone outside and the lights have been unplugged.

[greenthumbomaha]

Don't put your lights away! I grew lettuce under lights last winter and will probably expand winter growing next year to herbs, the micros or peppers.

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

I stack the pots then lay the stacks down in my 1020 trays and store the trays on the shelves under my shop lights. By the time I need to store the pots, the plants have all gone outside and the lights have been unplugged.

No to spiders and we need to follow Worth's garage example. Everything in its place. So I am looking for containment solutions for all these different sized oddball pots.

[ddsack]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

I just throw everything under a big camellia bush. It looks pretty trashy so I'll spare you the picture.

My method too, except I have one pile under a lilac bush being smothered by a grape vine, and the other one at the edge of the woods. I have them on old wooden skids and try to keep them covered with a dark green plastic tarp during the off season, but this time of year I am constantly rummaging in there, so an eyesore to those who can't appreciate tumbled stacks of trays and all sizes of pots.

[habitat_gardener]

It helps to have only a few standard sizes of containers.

We have plant exchanges around here in the spring, which is a great way to clear out containers I'm not using (and plants!) that someone else may be able to use.

[Jonnyhat]

my neighbor called the township on me because of my container storage outside. (he has 3 ft tall plastic horses prancing around his back yard mind you)... yada yada yada I planted a Japanese stink tree by his fence line.

[oakley]

Don't put your lights away! I grew lettuce under lights last winter and will probably expand winter growing next year to herbs, the micros or peppers.

Some things pile up in the garden shed but for the most part i clean up in the Fall.

I grow all winter so my shelved lights all stay up and tidy. I've got a few projects going and expanding the micro-greens...
(nothing is tidy now as the planting is just about to kick into gear with rising temps)

[Jeannine Anne]

I have a tall narrow storage shed about 3 feet deep and they all go in there. I only keep ones that fit together well then I can pack loads in.including the seed trays and covers. The really big pots and global buckets are stored upside down in a narrow gap between my main shed and my guest house. They are cleaned at year end and covered if outside. Then they are all ready for spring.

[NarnianGarden]

Some of the pots and buckets spent the winter in the dry storage room. Others were on my balcony, surviving all winds and frost... Plastic did not seem to mind, but some ceramic clay pots are showing signs of cracking...

[greenthumbomaha]

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

I have a tall narrow storage shed about 3 feet deep and they all go in there. I only keep ones that fit together well then I can pack loads in.including the seed trays and covers. The really big pots and global buckets are stored upside down in a narrow gap between my main shed and my guest house. They are cleaned at year end and covered if outside. Then they are all ready for spring.

It's so hard to throw out the oddball sizes. They come in handy when you have an uneven number of seeds that germinated. I wish I were as organized as you and many others on the forum. There are worse things to hoard and this is my only "collection" which certainly is a large one, Most friends and certainly family don't get it, looks like trash to them.

- Lisa

[Uncle Doss]

mine al get cleaned and stacked up. most flats find their way into the rafters of my garage, the pots get stacked into boxes in the garage rafters or in a barrel.
a local bank in my town puts out thousands of $$$ in its landscaping every year. they literally put out about 1500 petunias, all of which come in 4 inch round pots, the pots all come in carriers that hold 10 pots. Every year, all of those carriers and pots go into the dumpster.
Last year I was able to get some of the last pots from them, this year I got them all. the 4 inch pots, stacked inside each other make a stack that when layed down measured over 30 foot long. I have all of those pots stacked inside a 42 gallon barrel, the carriers are stacked in the garage.

I wish I could reuse the pots for the plants I sell in the spring, but they are printed with the name of the nursery on each of them. Thinking I might try spray painting over them, will try later to see how well it works.

I also got about 50 1020 trays each containing 12, 4 cell trays. along with that I got about 30 1 gallon containers and a handful of hanging baskets. bad thing is, they cut the wires off the hanging baskets.

[Jeannine Anne]

I am not so organized, all my odd sizes get donated to a church for their plant sale so it doesn't feel like chucking them LOL