[Help!!]Looking for cheap pots

[KATAKLYSM]

I got in on a deal with the State of Louisiana Dept of Forestry and I'm trying to prepare myself for what I'm going to do with 150 seedlings.
A friend of a friend has a nursery. He suggested planting each seedling in a 3-gallon pot. He wants .75/ea for his pots and they are really flimsy pots. I was hoping that some of you would be able to direct me to any websites that may have some inexpensive (but good) plastic pots.

I have looked online until my eyes are killing me. Any help is appreciated!

 

[R Schra]

We usually have about 10 bigbags with stapled pots after a planting season. We sell about 4 bigbags with good sized and shape pots to some local nurseries. The rest are returned free of charge to the nurseries we get them from. So ever tried to get pots at a landscaper or nursery nearby? What specie seedlings need to be potted? You need to have the right size and volume pots for different species.

 

[KATAKLYSM]

I am getting 50 each of Pecan, Live Oak, and Bald Cypress

What are these "bigbags"?

 

[treeman45246]

I would check more local sources. $.75 a pot may be the nursery's cost, but used pots abound. Check with your local municipality, landscape contractor, zoo... anyone who would do large-scale planting or landscaping. Used pots ought to be cheap and plentiful. If Elmore reads this, he may know...

 

[Elmore]

Seedlings?...they will likely come looking like this
<img src="http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:02fZEVCKu_QJ:www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/forestry/images/fr-ing-containers.jpg"> They generally don't let you have the tray but will box up the seedlings when pulled. I recommend growing in trade gallons for the first season and maybe a bit longer. You might do well with quarts. Trade gallons are about 3/4 gallon. At nurseries and garden centers, it is the most common "gallon" size that you will find perennials and shrubs in. Last I heard around here used trade gallons were going for about 5 cents each. I think a used 3g would go for about 25 to 35 cents and 2g containers for about 15 cents. It sounds like your nursery friend of a friend is willing to take advantage of the situation. The price of plastic is up but I don't think that it warrants 75 cent flimsy used 3g containers. Grow the seedlings in small containers first then move up to larger containers as they develop. Ask advice from someone of knowledge at the State of Louisiana Dept of Forestry. Years ago the nursery industry used metal cans like what food came in...like coffee cans. I am using a variety of different containers with root pruning in mind...fabric, fiber, above ground bags, in ground bags in pots, copper treated, peforated even mesh bags inserted in concrete blocks. Do as Treeman suggests "Check with your local municipality, landscape contractor, zoo... anyone who would do large-scale planting or landscaping" and call a bunch of nurseries both wholesale and retail. Many are willing to sell containers. Some garden centers have recycling programs with their customers and you can obtain containers from them. I sometimes find large containers along the shoulders of roads and highways that have blown off of trucks. Some of my best deals in nursery container procurement have been the result of serious dumpster diving. Be careful, you never know what class of people you might find in there with you.
Here are a few links that may be of interest and I recommend you get on the comp and your phone and do some research.
http://pearl.agcomm.okstate.edu/hort/greenhouses/f6706.htm
http://www.nurseryman.com/equipment-new/containers.html http://gardencenternursery.wsu.edu/container/AboveGroundContainerProduction.htm
Keep your eyes out for those abandoned pots and when you can, grab em'. :blob5:

 

[R Schra]

I am getting 50 each of Pecan, Live Oak, and Bald Cypress

What are these "bigbags"?

Big bags are storage bags that contains 1 cubic meter space. They deliver soil, gravel, fertilizer in it. After that they are great to store and dispose large quantity small stuff like pots and other things. (chips, firewood, etc)

 

[vharrison2]

Those bags are the bomb,unbelievable the weight they hold.

I agree with Elmore, don't go with a three gallon pot, use something much,much smaller.

 

[KATAKLYSM]

I want to thank you all for the advice. It is greatly appreciated! I will check into it.


Elmore, thanks for the links.

 

[Elmore]

I just found some notes from spring of 2004 regarding about 20,000 used containers that I located for a Tennessee grower. The pricing was as such :
1g - 5 cents ea.
3g - 15 cents ea.
7g - 60 cents ea.
15g - $1.50 ea.