winter killed my pots

Cru_2

I had quite a few terracotta and such plant pots that I have had a few years and this year they seem to have fallen apart. I have never had problems with them before so is it possible the long snowy winter destroyed them (I live in East Midlands)?

Optimisticpair

Yes, unfortunately they are prone to cracking in hard frost /ice and though I am not a technical bod I suspect they are possibly weakened over time by repeated frost stressing. I store empty ones away for winter and avoid water collecting in them.There are frost proof ones available.

Soubrette

Cru wrote: »

I had quite a few terracotta and such plant pots that I have had a few years and this year they seem to have fallen apart. I have never had problems with them before so is it possible the long snowy winter destroyed them (I live in East Midlands)?

Did they have water in them?

Water expands when frozen - I lost a couple of pots myself because I forgot to empty them when it rained.

Sou

Cru_2

Thanks for the replies they had plants in them, it just didn't occur to me to wrap them up as have never had problems before.

Ruddy winter.

Ah well I will stick to the glazed pots that Morrisons seem to sell cheaply in sets in future.

JennyJB

Mine too (in Doncaster). They were really cheap though and I've had most of them for over 10 years, so probably had my moneys worth out of them, and the broken bits are good for drainage in the bottom of new pots.

A._Badger

I lost some expensive (and in a couple of cases allegedly 'frost resistant') pots this winter - and that's down in the far South!

prettypennies

I had two huge glazed terracotta pots that have been trashed by the frost. They have lavender plants in them and thing only thing holding them together is the plant roots. Oh well, I will have plenty of broken crocs to use as drainage this year.. Every cloud....:rotfl::rotfl:

Bitsy_Beans

Mine were a few years old and have finally given up the ghost. Personally I've given up with terracotta and have succumbed to plastic I've tried frost resistant in the past and they all go the same way in the end.......

Farway

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

Mine were a few years old and have finally given up the ghost. Personally I've given up with terracotta and have succumbed to plastic I've tried frost resistant in the past and they all go the same way in the end.......

I have found plastic goes brittle eventually, and gives up the ghost, but some of mine are donkey's years old

foxgloves

I'm in the North east midlands and have had the same problem with terracotta pots. I knew it could happen, so could have wrapped them but didn't bother and they have cracked & flaked a lot. Our garden was under snow for quite a while so I guess it was the coldest winter we've had here for some time.

peter_the_piper

A straight, tapered sided pot will last longer than one with a return lip at the top. Water expands when defrosting and so if the compost is right to the top it will get bigger than the pot and take the lip with it.