Hey everyone,

I'm looking for your input on what your biggest frustrations and problems with plant containers are. For example, my mother has a ton of potted plants, and every winter (Zone 8A) she has to move them all indoors. This is a big hassle, and on top of that she will sometimes move them back outside on a warmer day and then forget to bring them in when it gets cold again, which leads to them dying. Do any of you struggle with this or any other problems that have to do with plant containers?

*For context, I'm not trying to sell anything, but I'm looking for a need in the market so that I can solve it and make people's lives better while simultaneously making a living in the future. I have a couple ideas already but I want to see what there is a need for.

Thanks !

Hi Growtoeat, and welcome to NGA.

I live in zone 8. I solved that problem by using containers that are not easily damaged by freezing and thawing repeatedly during the winter months. I also started using plants that are winter hardy in my zone. The ones that are marginal, as in tender succulents, I place on our covered deck for winter and keep them dry. It is amazing how many will survive winter if kept dry. No moving of containers in and out of storage. Just getting way to old for that now.
What kind of plants does your mother grow? What part of the country? Zone 8 conditions can very greatly depending on what the overall weather conditions are for her area.

Most of my container plants need winter protection. Lately my large tree in ground have gotten so big, it is best to grow things in pots so that they don't have to fight for water. The hardy ones stay outside, die back and return in their pots. The others get moved to the greenhouse. I am getting older, too and each year it has become a bigger and bigger job to the point, where I used to pull them all in in one day, now, I take 3 days to move them all. And I am tired for 3 days after that!! I have a dolly and a hand truck, ramps and use plywood to roll them over the grass. So it's not just the plants that I have to move! Those things are supposed to make moving pots easier. But it often adds to the work.

This year, I trimmed many of the small trees in pots. I plan to root trim them next spring so that they don't grow as fast. I am finding I can unpot some of the gingers and store them out of the pot. Next year, I will put them in the ground. I have large plumeria trees that I uproot protect and store them barerooted. I think this year even the medium size trees will be uprooted so that I don't have to move the pots. It is time to fix it so that it is not so much work.

I dolly in my 2 potted crotons (very large pots) to my semi-outdoor atrium off the garage. I cover them with a light fleece blanket it the temps drop below 32. I also dolly in the 4 large ixoras to the semi-outdoor atrium. They seem to be the most temperature sensitive so I may arrange them in my foyer and see if they do better inside than in the atrium. All those items are in really big, heavy pots and with my bad back, I HAVE to use a dolly. I bring my macho fern and smaller ferns in the house to be safe. My dwarf schefflera, that lives in the atrium most of the year has to be brought inside to the foyer as well.
It's just too delicate to put a blanket over, even a light fleece blanket. It drops a lot of leaves inside each year, but replenishes them quickly when it goes back out to the atrium in Spring. My huge 22" spider plant pot outside I just wrap with a fleece blanket anytime the temps are 40 or below. It has survived 3 winters outside just doing that. As you can see, it is not suffering from "owner abuse":


I just potted about 12 babies off this monster yesterday. Man, does it produce offspring living outside! If I don't snip them off, they'll drag down to the dirt and root!

Peggy your spider plant is beautiful. What is the lowest your temps go in the winter?

Our lowest averages high 20's but most of the time, low 30's. But 2 years back, we stayed in the teens for nearly 2 weeks straight in this area. That winter I dollied the spider plant up onto the front porch and blanketed it there. Our pipes at our cabin in Gause an hour southeast of Temple froze and burst, so we do get cold. But most winters I just go out and blanket this spider plant and let it ride out winter in situe.

Good to know that it can take some freezing if protected.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Has anyone tried one of those small "greenhouse" cover things that you put on top of potted plants? It doesn't have a bottom, its cylindrical and you just place it over the plant. Curious if anyone has tried it and if there are any problems with that kind of solution.

I saw these on-line the other day. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nuv....
Look like they might work provided they are big enough to cover your plants and sit snugly on the ground. Might be light enough to get lifted up and even knocked over in strong wind, however. Haven't tried them myself. And to store them, they would clearly stack on top of each other like stacking chairs. I usually just use blankets, buckets and large cardboard boxes as we get so few hard freezes.
The larger size isn't terribly expensive either: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nuv...

I have been growing plants that are not winter hardy. It has been yrs of trial and error but my process is in and done once. That back and forth is not a easy enough process for me.

One nothing comes in until the temps are going down to 32. It also helps not to bring in bugs. I have never had a bug problem. If it looks like you are going to get one day of 32 or below just throw sheets over them.

Two I combine plants. That is no one plant per pot. They are gardens in a pot. Plants that compliment each other like you would in a garden.

Moving large heavy pots is an issue. I already don't move them all down into the basement. That means we lose several...mostly terracotta.

Dark colors just help plants cook in summer here. We have some plants in pots that are cold hardy here (Liatris spicata for one).

I do worry about the pots left out in winter. We don't get one long freeze. In fact, it is often that we are above freezing. But if we get an extended freeze, it might take days for the contents of the pots to thaw. If we get rains (our most common winter precipitation), the water has nowhere to go and if it freezes again, we just end up with saturated soils and lots of ice expansion and contraction which is hard on pots.

From the plant's perspective, something I've learned by helping container growers since year 2000, the biggest problem is the grower's lack of understanding of how water behaves in container substrates. More disappointment has been visited on growers by soggy soils than the next four of the top five line-up, combined.
Al

Peggy8b said:I saw these on-line the other day. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nuv....
Look like they might work provided they are big enough to cover your plants and sit snugly on the ground. Might be light enough to get lifted up and even knocked over in strong wind, however. Haven't tried them myself. And to store them, they would clearly stack on top of each other like stacking chairs. I usually just use blankets, buckets and large cardboard boxes as we get so few hard freezes.
The larger size isn't terribly expensive either: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nuv...

Ha! I was thinking of something similar to suggest when I read the original post, and it already exists. An improvement on this product would be if it were collapsible rather than stacking for those of us with limited storage space. Also, a more rectangular one for covering multiple, smaller pots. Thanks for the link, Peggy.

Edited to add. Helps to read the description. Yes, they DO fold flat for storage. Even better!

Al it is great to see you. Would love to see some photos of what you are currently growing.
I just did my very first small container crevice garden last summer. Thought of you when putting it together.

Hi, Lynn. I added a few posts and lots of images here, starting on 6/29:


The thread "Show off your container garden" in Containers forum

Al

Great read through that thread. What beautiful gardens you have Al. And the potted plants are amazing as usual. You have a real talent and great knowledge.

I appreciate the kind words, Lynn. Thank you! I'm retired now, so I allow myself an extra hour or so to spend on the forums. I figured I'd use the extra time to see what this site was like. Thanks too, for inviting me here BTW - back in '10 or '12, I think.









Al

All I know is that I am very glad to see you again.

Oh the lovely Willamette Valley soils! I started growing in containers because my soil has been so hard to figure out. When I lived in the Willamette Valley, we just plunked things in the soil and watched them grow (with summer water as needed), now I struggle to figure out how to get things to live and thrive. So I decided in Feb. last year to try a bunch of containers. Although I read and watched everything I could, I just came to the conclusion that there were so many opinions that I should do a semi-fast draining soil and get those pots filled. Well, some have done great, some okay, some struggled. Now I am trying to fix them, because we once again have had unusual amounts of rain. Oh yeah, I bought a yard of "potting soil" used by a local nursery to find that it wasn't mixed correctly and had lots less pumice than stated. So back for a 1/3 yard of pumice. So the cold is the least of my worries right now. I need advice on fixing soil at a bad time of year without killing all my plants.

Your not living in the Willamette Valley any more? Where are you living? I am sorry your are having such a difficult time.
What plants are you growing?