I used them last year and had no problem. It was easy to pick up the crate to set inside a tray of water to water several cartons all at once. And it keeps them from blowing away, although that hasn't been a problem for me.

I pick up crates behind a local restaurant. They don't recycle them and are happy to have them gone. I've also noticed them behind Dairy Queen, but I don't know if they would give them to you. I don't think the milk companies want them back to recycle, which is really terrible when you think about all the crates being used each week.

Hope this helps.

I used a plastic milk crate this year for the first time. I only had one available so that's the only one but I like the fact it holds them in place no matter what Ol' Man Winter throws at them. I've got a few more around here that have various things in them that I'll be either getting rid of or passing along to someone who can use them. Next year I'll use all the ones I have and maybe pick up a few more if I can find them.

In the absence of crates, I use bricks to hold the rows of jugs in place--just push them up against the jugs and they hold them right where they are.

You can find those milk crates at K-mart, Walmart and Target..look around office supplies aisle. Office supplies sells them..Last year, I got 3 at Value Village for $1.91 each. Look at Salvation Army, Goodwill or even Habitat for Humanity resale stores. I can fit 9(1/2 gal.siz)milk jugs into one of those crates.

I'm lucky enough to get as many as I want from a little corner store down the road. I have more than half of my milk jugs in them... it makes it very nice!! I also get the soda crates which works well for other types of containers.

I just wanted to make sure they wouldn't hinder the germination or growth in anyway.