planting in metal cans

[jaroti]

hi, is it safe to plant garlic, onions in these old milk cans.

[deed]

I have never grown anything in a metal container but can't think of a reason that it would not work. You said they are milk containers so that should make them food safe. Some things to think about is making sure the bottoms have drain holes. Metal will retain heat if in the full sun.

Dee

[applestar]

Drain holes are definitely important. Do they rust? I wouldn't feel safe about rusty cans. Also, I guess you have to wonder what the outside printing is done with and if they are considered safe because they are on the outside and not in contact with the contents, but as soon as you start making holes....

Also, most cans are coated on the inside with something -- I can't remember exactly what -- ??phenol ?? I don't know if that should be an issue or not.

Aside from safety, one important factor about these cans is that they are ridged along the sides and have interior lip at the top which will prevent easily slipping the contents out. The cans are too small to grow onions and garlic to maturity and you will have difficulty getting them out to uppot.

[jaroti]

ive placed holes on them, but yeah they do rust after a couple of months, so I guess I can only plant succulents or small flowers in them

[imafan26]

I've grown plants in gallon tin cans before. Usually they were fruit or corn gallons. They aren't pretty, but they are cheap recyclables. They do rust but they last a few years. If you kick a side of the top down it makes a decent handhold. They defiinitely need holes for drainage. I used to keep ginger and peppers in them. Ginger will break out of the cans so you have to watch out for that. I use some of the one gallon cans to cover the trunks of papaya after I cut them when they get too tall. I use the cans for scoops to measure parts for my potting soil mix. The cans hold up better than plastic pots. The coffee cans with the plastic lids are better since I can use them for storage of fertilizer, labels, ties, screws, nuts and bolts, etc.

[gumbo2176]

If you are intent on planting in containers, then why not hit some job sites to pick up discarded 5 gallon plastic buckets like the kind drywall compound comes in. Even if the compound in them has hardened a bit since they are never cleaned out prior to discarding them, they can be cleaned with a bit of elbow grease.

The added bonus is you can plant many more things in them as opposed to gallon tin cans, they won't rust and their sides are slick to make removing the contents real easy. I don't plant in them since my garden is an in-ground type, but I do use the buckets I have for harvesting things from the garden. Stuff like lettuces and other greens are put in the bucket with a bit of cold water to keep them crisp and start the washing off process.

I'll pick things like kale, collards and chard and put the long stems into the water and this keeps them crisp and fresh until I can get to them to finish cleaning them prior to storing them in the fridge. I find if I pick things in the middle of the day they may be a bit wilted if it is warm enough, but a dip in the water and they perk right up.

[jaroti]

I've thought about putting the milk cans to use because I have plenty due to my baby, thank you all for your comments

[applestar]

I know what you mean about wanting to re-use/recycle stuff like this. I like imafan's idea of using them for dry goods storage and organization -- do they come with snap on lids?

At the very least, I could see using them to keep fertilizer and other potting mix supplements in (keep the big bags in storage but use these on the potting bench) -- I imagine they came with handy measuring scoops. I could keep my tomato clips in them too....

[imafan26]

If you are going to plant, it is better to use food grade cans. The construction buckets, I use for tools, storage, and weeds but not for plants or media.

[Gary350]

Cans are fine use to do it all the time many years ago. You need some drain holes in the side 1/2" from the bottom.

[kayjay]

If you want food-grade buckets, hit up restaurants. I work in food service at a university and we go through at least 3 4.5-gallon buckets a week in my small area alone. Most of them get thrown out. I've brought a bunch home for gardening. Drill a few holes in them, and voila.

The tall white buckets on the right in this pic are the 4.5-gallon ones, and the little brown one was a gallon-bucket of Nutella.

20160529- containers.jpg (53.13 KiB) Viewed 966 times

[OliverWonderland]

Hi jaroti,

I don't think garlic and onions is safe planting them on a metal cans. Usually, we only plant flowers on metal cans.

Oliver

[jaroti]

thank you everyone, I've now planted small flowers on them

[jal_ut]

I would steer away from metal cans.

I find the one gallon ice cream buckets to be good planting containers. Punch a couple holes in the bottom and get some potting mix.

[imafan26]

I haven't planted garlic, but I did plant green onions in them before. Now, I use 1 gallon nursery pots instead because they don't rust. I have planted fruit trees in gallon cans. the beauty of that is that the can bottom can be cut off and the whole thing planted. The can rusts over time