Spring is coming and I need to start thinking/budgeting how to move from cups to planters. What do you all do and where do you get them? I was at Lowes and it looks like they are going for around 5 bucks. I can't imagine people are paying that when they have hundreds of varieties but maybe they are? Anyway I can't wait to read responses. Thanks in advance!

Try Craigslist. My brother visits local nurseries and they have tons of them for .20. They also give away the square, 1 gallons because the customers don't seem to buy the plants when they are in square pots. (Note: make sure you don't bring home spiders that are hiding in them). My brother when he is in a hurry uses a 2 liter Soda bottle and cuts them in half. I went to Home Depot and saw good prices on 5 gallon paint buckets, may buy them and burn some holes into them. Think it was 2.78. Ebay may have someone locally advertising pots...???

Thanks, Armando! All of those are great options!

Scott,

Visit some nurseries  near where you live and see if they can sell you some new ones.
There's a nursery were I live and the owner sells me some by the sleeve ( 50ct. ).

If memory serves me I think I paid around $0.65 each for a 4gl.

Or you can visit some hydroponics. They sell almost every size you can imagine.

But if you buy used ones please clean them first and do something as simple as washing them and let dry off and spray Tylex or Fantastic or something with bleach solution. And rinse off again.

And don't forget to clean and disinfect your tools too.

Good luck

Many of the nurseries near me give away their used pots.  Some have to pay to get rid of them so they're happy to have you take lots.  Landscaping companies also frequently give away their pots.

Thank you, Rafed! I have a couple local nurseries in the area. I never thought about cleaning out the planters so I will make sure to do that. I need to start cleaning my tools before and after especially after almost chopping my thumb off while removing an air layer on a mulberry tree. The cut was bad enough but then looking at how dirty the clippers were almost gave me a heart attack!

Thanks, Bob! Will hit them up too! So glad I asked before I bought all the expensive planters! 

Some dollar stores carry plant pots (1, 2 & sometimes 3 gallon) pots for an economical price (@ $1.25 to under $3). It provides easy access to pots when in winter the empty pots stored in the backyard are under 2 feet of snow.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GROW-BAGS-Black-and-White-Poly-Plastic-1-2-3-5-7-10-gallons-10-25-50-100-Count-/121070962341?pt=US_Hydroponics&var=420123740092&hash=item1c306446a5


I use these. 42 cents a bag plus shipping. These would be good for figs for 2-3 years. But at that time I plan on putting them inground. These would be perfect because they are white and reflect light back to plant

I eat a lot of pretzels so I always keep the giant plastic drum-like containers they come in as planters :) and like many others have said- ask around ... I have two decorative planters that I bought but every other one I have made from stuff that otherwise would've been thrown away or I got for free... Good luck! Lots of options!

In my area, a lot of the commercial landscapers (that do the plantings for entrances to high-end office spaces and stripmalls, etc.) will let you take anything left over once they've finished their installations each season. Usually they chunk whatever's been planted the last season, so you might even get some free plants out of the deal. 

chinese restaurants. they use food grade 5 gal bucket for soy sauce and tofu. they throw them away after using them. i'm sure most other restaurants have some sort of 5 gal buckets. when my father had his business, there were always 5 gal buckets from pickles and such. 

Ekierk- those bags are new to me. I may get a few to experiment with. My only hesitation is if they will tip. Thank you!

Lelsa- Haha. You must love pretzels. I am the same way with juice and have started a stock pile! =)

Rick- we do have some new developments in the area. Once the snow clears I'm sure they will be planting. Thanks!

Pete- soy infused figs sound delicious! We have a ton of Chinese places in town. Another great idea!

If you are looking for an online source this is a good place with the best prices if you need a good bunch of them. If you can go in with a friend or two and spend the. $200 you get 20% off, 15% off $150, or 10% off $100, plus free shipping over $75! I went in on an order with a fellow forum member from NJ and we made out a great deal on 1 and 3 gallon pots, some of the larger 4 and 5 gallon pots, stick labels, and yellow tag labels we split. It was a great deal buying in bulk. Really the best prices anywhere, trust me, we did A LOT of research, and they had the best pricing online and anywhere locally too. Too bad you are not in NJ, I would of went in on an order with you!
http://www.novoselenterprises.com/

A word of caution, if you do get used containers from nurseries, please bleach them first before using!

Scot, find a Landscape company and ask them straight forward if you could have their nursery pots for free. It works. I just did a random one and they will give me 300 one gallon pots for free and when the time comes to transplant those into bigger (3 Gallon) they will give me those too, they have no use for them after they planted the plants, usually they return it to the nursery just so they won't throw them away in plastic recycle bin. Keep trying different ones until you get  a company that will give you for free.

Aaron, I got about 200 5 gallon pots for free (delivered, no less) and go straight from the quart sized tree pots or 1 gallon pots into the 5 gallon pots and it works out very well.  However, I only fill them deep enough to keep the soil at the same level as the tree had been growing.  This works out to about a 3 gallon pot most of the time but gives me a lot of room for giving a good soaking when watering.  I can water faster since I don't need to wait for the water to soak in before adding more, etc.

oh yeah Harvey I noticed you were using tree pots, they are tall, I was actually thinking about those  since they might take less space too...Where do you get your soil to transplant? I don't know if I can afford Miracle-Grow high grade potting soil for 200+ cuttings then to transplant... I'm all worried about the expenses when it comes to fill up 200-300 5Gal pots, LOL I'm not even doing this for business.

Aaron, I start cuttings in small treepots that are 3" square x 8" tall, recycled from some large winegrape vineyard plantings nearby (I have enough for many years).  I then transplant them into the 4" square x 12" tall treepots that I bought from Stuewe.  Up through this point, I'm using ProMix HP which I buy at Redi-Gro in Sacramento, a large plant that handles thousands of cubic yards of soil but also sells supplies like this.  The 3.8 cubic foot compressed bale (60 pounds) costs about $31 and I'd guess I can maybe get close to 100 trees completed through the quart pot size from the one bale (I've used 1 bale to handle about 200 cuttings of which 16 are in quart pots now).  Once I move into the larger pots, I use Jon's method.  I went to a landfill 15 miles away and picked up a dump trailer of compost for free and am adding perlite and slow release fertilizer to it.

ok Thanks Harvey, so I'll skip 3 gallon stem, since 3 and 5  have same width anyway. from 1Gallon i'll move them to 5Gallon and keep the soil level low like you said.