Drilling the bottom out of a terracotta pot? 23 October 2020 at 2:49PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 8 replies 163 views

twopenny

Has anyone done this?

I've got two Box ball shrubs in small square terracotta pots. They are looking stressed compared to the dwarf hedge around not to mention a nightmare to water. I can't get larger square terracotta pots and putting them in the ground they will disappear as a decorative feature

I'm thinking if I drill out the base the roots can go into the soil while retaining the look.

I've watched and read and you should soak it first and not use the hammer function. But I'm nervous of what I would do with the plants if the pots break. Can't find anything square to take their place.

tacpot12

If the pots break, you will have no choice but to repot them in circular pots, but as these are going into the ground, I wouldn't worry too much. I would suggest you invest in some diamond holesaw drill bits, of the sort used for drilling tiles. On a slow speed, and with some water, there is very little chance of the breaking terracotta unless it is already really fragile. 

twopenny

Thanks Tacpot, I hadn't thought of a special drill bit. Or putting water on but I've seen that done somewhere and makes perfect sense.

The terracotta is quite substantial and the real deal, not the hard baked pots. Square are never easy to find and of course now even more so.

Apodemus

Terracotta pots glue back together really easily and almost seamlessly.  So if the worst happens, you can easily recreate the look, no-one else will know!

twopenny

Apodemus, how do you glue one back together? What would you use?

My imaginatve friend said that.

I had two large ones smash during the last lot of strong winds when shrubs were in full leaf. One was unusual that was inherited with the new house. I'd like to repair it or turn it into a fish sculputre as it has large 'scales'

Apodemus

twopenny said:

Apodemus, how do you glue one back together? What would you use?

I'm no glue guru and whenever I need to glue anything, I tend to try whatever comes to hand first during a quick rummage through the garage! That would mean it would be PVA or superglue for most tasks and I reckon either would work on terracotta pots, with superglue possibly providing a neater finish.

twopenny

Thanks Apodemus, got to admit that's my technique too.

I've got Gorilla glue/pva squirty thing which is proving to be really good. It's beaten Aroldite, Bostick etc. But at the mo too many things take precidence over the artistic (fun) stuff.

Emmia

Superglue isn't waterproof though, which is probably not ideal for a plantpot which is outside and presumably gets watered occasionally.

You can get inserts for pots which allow water to drain into the base, as the lack of drainage holes could mean the pot is waterlogged rather than too dry.

https://www.bloomling.uk/elho/milano-easy-insert-30-cm

twopenny

Thanks for the thought Emmia but the pots I plan to drill holes out of will have an open base so the roots go into the ground if the pot remains in one piece following this intervention.

If I create something from the pot that got broken in a storm it will probably be cemented or gorilla'd and unlikely to hold water.

Saw those bases that go into pots as self watering the other day. Looks interesting but they were only as part of a plastic pot.

It would be interesting to try and recreate them from 'stuff' to use in terracotta pots