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Talkback: Frost-proof pots

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
They certainly don't make pots like they used to. I have pots which have been handed down through the family, terracotta, they don't seem to mind the cold. Maybe they are just made too thin now to cope with frost. I must admit to putting bubble wrap around them in winter though. Maybe this insulates the pot.
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  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Sorry about your pots. Does the shape make a difference? If they are wide in the middle and narrow at the top I find the moisture in the soil freezes and expands sideways and cracks them. It's just a theory - I have cracked pots of all shapes and sizes !
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Isn't it a pain? I've had more break this winter than at any other time, with big flakes falling off the sides. The painted and glazed ones all survived.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Surely marketing something as 'frost-proof' when it's clearly not is false advertising. Shouldn't people be taking these broken pots back and getting a refund?
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    My two worst pots were glazed-whole chunks fell off the sides.I lost terracotta ones as well. I have found new ones with a 10 year guarantee at the garden centre and will be carefully keeping all receipts. This years cold snap will have cost me about £70 in replacement pots alone.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    There are pots made from fibreclay that seem to be really frost-proof. They look like terracotta put have added ingredients to strenthen them. I've had one for a few years now and it's still fine, although I haven't had any other pots damaged by the recent weather, so maybe my garden isn't the best place to test it, but we did have a foot of snow a few weeks ago. I've seen the pots in several garden centres so they shouldn't be hard to find.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I bought 2 opt from my locla garden centere last year, so when i went out into my garden to check on them i was devistated to find a big crack running all the way down side if it! I supose i will hav to by some new ones as replacements, but I have to admit I am not very happy! I just wish I would have kept the reciept like pdblake was refering to.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Hi I am a very keen gardener and also a potter. I understand your comment and agree. the problem is that for a clay pot to be frost proof it must be fired to a stage where it is no longer porous ( it will allow water to enter the body of the pot) A porous pot will soak up water into the body of the clay, this freezes and thaws making hairline cracks which eventually grow with each freeze thaw action causing the pot to break. Also the clay used to give the pot some strength need to have a certain amount of grit or grog in it to give it more strength or body. Having said that frost and ice are extremely powerful, and just in the same way you put items in your freezer in a sensible shape container allowing for a margin for the frozen liquid to expand in volume, Your pots fill up with water and expand thus breaking them.

    To AVOID damage to porous pots in hard frosts either carry them all into a frost free area ( difficult if you have a lot) or while the weather is wet lean them over and lie the pots and plants on their side to drain out excess water ( the less water the less expansion from frost) if you have a pot that curves in at the top then loosen the soil to take away the pressure of freezing ice.

    THE BEST WAY OF AVOIDING FROST DAMAGE is to buy the right pots to begin with !!! Choose vitreous ( non porous )stoneware made in a country where they get hard frosts ie Britain & the Chinese ones are very good while in my experience Spanish and Portugese made Terracotta pots just fall apart.
    I suggest that you find a potter who makes garden ware near you and go and see them see what they have growing in them. Hand made stoneware garden pots may initially seem expensive but they last much longer than the cheaper imports. I live in the Yorkshire Dales National park and we get lots of rain and frost I hope this helps . liz
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    How to tell if a pot is porous or not.
    If you dab a little liquid on a dry porous terracotta pot the liquid will be soaked up immediately make the colour of the pot darker. a porous pot will not hold water unless it has a glaze on it ( the shiny coloured part) terracotta pots are usually glazed on the outside only allowing liquid to be soaked into the pot, so test the inside.
    A Vitreous or stoneware pot when properly fired will not absorb any liquid at all, your water test will stand on the surface whether it is glazed or not. liz
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Stone ware pots are the toughest I have had some for 35 years with no problems, no matter the quality of the terracotta and I have some very thick oblong pots, they evenually break, sometimes hairline cracks sometimes great lumps of pot breaking from the top where there is no soil to expand, so what ever you buy to be safe bring them in or cover them.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Hiya,

    Just dropped by - I wanted to mention that I've managed to repair some of my cracked pots with industrial adhesive - not terribly pretty but at least I'll get a few more years out of them...
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