Free Bonsai Pots!!

josh1812@live.com · Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:29 pm

I just saw that you can make bonsai pots out of baby wipe boxes!! Especially the huggies one they are the perfect dimensions and aren't harmful so do you guys of gals think I could use it successfully ?

JTred · Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:17 pm

I would think that any tree that you couldn't justify putting into a real pot would be better off in a larger pot to grow out more. If you are looking to flatten out the roots for the nebari, a large pot with a flat stone, ceramic floor tile, or bottom of a plastic water bottle would work better I think.

cynthia_h · Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:32 pm

How do you supply drainage holes without tearing the fragile plastic boxes?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

josh1812@live.com · Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:19 pm

Easy just use a screw driver star tip and make the holes

Gnome · Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:03 pm

Josh,

Another source of free containers is the meat trays that some retailers are offering. They are sturdy enough to hold up for a season or two and then can still be recycled.
[url=https://img43.imageshack.us/I/trayh.jpg/][img]https://img43.imageshack.us/img43/1416/trayh.th.jpg[/img][/url]
Granted they are not very elegant but they are useful at times. If the size is appropriate they can be used as training pots for trees still in development. I have also used them for seedlings and cuttings.

There are also plastic bonsai pots available at very reasonable prices.
https://www.miamitropicalbonsai.com/plastics-pots.html

Norm

somegeek · Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:47 pm

It's funny what industries call disposable vs what you may purchase in the storage container section of a supermarket.

I often redirect stuff from our recycling bin to my growing container pile. Strawberry containers are nice to start stuff in as well. The top cover has holes in them so they do hold in some moisture to help germination but not so much so it can get some circulation and not mold.

For the most part, minus aesthetics, they're quite functional.

Another reusable item I use is our kitty litter buckets. Work great to stack and fill with smaller bags of fertilizer, lime, etc. I also use a few for premixed potting mix and bonsai mix.

rainbowgardener · Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:08 am

KITTY LITTER BUCKETS! Love 'em. I always have two under my kitchen sink, one with a lid to collect kitchen scraps for the compost pile and one for recyclables. They are the perfect under the sink size and the lid seals tightly enough to keep compost bucket smells in. I also use them to hold cat food, bird seed, small bags of fertilizer, to carry water, to mix stuff in, etc etc.

somegeek · Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:24 pm

rainbowgardener wrote:KITTY LITTER BUCKETS! Love 'em. I always have two under my kitchen sink, one with a lid to collect kitchen scraps for the compost pile and one for recyclables. They are the perfect under the sink size and the lid seals tightly enough to keep compost bucket smells in. I also use them to hold cat food, bird seed, small bags of fertilizer, to carry water, to mix stuff in, etc etc.

I, in fact, have bird seed in two and cat food in one myself.

Cat food being stored in a litter bucket... is there some sort of recycling symbolism there?