You can check out Big Lots stores- they have all different sizes at great prices!
Kasha77

Try a nursery. Sometimes they will sell their used pots cheap or even give them away. You can use those big pots with rope handles and drill holes in them too. They have them at Walmart and the Dollar stores.

I have also bought just plain buckets at the dollar store
and drilled a few holes in the bottom.

Karen

I agree with Kristy. Go to an independent nursery. Every season we accumulate thousands of nursery pots in all sizes that we end up taking to the dump because the county won't take them for recycling.

great suggestions. Thank you. I will go out and beg and plead.

In my fantasy life, I imagine beautiful glazed clay pots. A girl can dream right?

Don't plant directly in clay unless the interior is completely glazed as well. The roots will stick. Just set the ugly nursery pot inside the clay one. Depending on where you live now is a great time to find clay pots for a fraction of their regular price. I'm not sure that the gardening supplies are discounted as much in the warmer zones but they are around here.

If you have no luck finding any here is n outlet that has good prices and they deliver..LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Nursery Pots

Kylie you are the best. You know I was driving form Wal Mart to Walmart and HD and Lowes to look for cheap pots so I could pot up the brugs after I pull them out of the ground. Well.........NOTHING.

I like that shop and guess where I am going to get me some pots. Tired of begging Lowes to give me their pots, they otherwise would throw out and even wanna split them up. Just so I do not get them all.

I needed to chill a minute. The day turned out different then I thought it would.

Lucy

I like the name- Nursery Megastore. It sounds ... mega.
Thank you.

www
have you tried goodwill,I bought a glazed pot inside & out
it is a 35 gal pot for $13.00 also my sil works for a landscaper he gets me 40 gal pots for free, they throw them
away, when they plant trees, so he gives them to me if you lived close to me i have 20 extra
Elizabet

I am cheap & reuse anything big enough to suit the purpose. That usually means those big plastic 35 lb cat litter pails. You can paint them with special paint for plastic or slip a plastic trash bag over it or make cloth sacks with velcro closures to match your decor. Next years project - a claw foot tub pond.

Linda

I have the dream of the beautiful clay pots too but always see a plant I want more than the pot, lol. I got quite a few large pots when they built Walgreens last year from the landscapers when they planted the trees. All you gotta do is ask.

OOOO!! Linda that is a great idea.. I want a pond and have an old claw foot tub...HMMMM

Kylie

I just bought some tubs at the Home Depot for 8.00 ea.
They are 7 gal tubs, round, black, plastic, and they are the kind that nurseries use. Hey, and you know what, in a case like mine where I want something pretty on my patio: --- you can paint on them. I use acrylic paints and make them look gorgeous!
Ingrid.

These are all really good ideas. I found a few places online that have 10 gal and bigger plastic ugly basic pots for around $6 each. If I want to go cheap, that is the way to go.

When we moved, we really smashed up some of my plants. It further did not help that they spent a good 4+ days in the back of our U-Hauls due to travel delays. So, I saved some, made some emergency cuttings of others and have been going from that.

It's always good to develop a good relationship with your local independent nursery.Aside from helping your local economy, they're likely to be more interested in your projects and know gardeners and clubs in the area if you're new to the area. Our small town nurseryman ordered bhe BIG bags of perlite for me when he did his own order a few years ago and I was experimenting with mixes for containers. Another lets me have the 3-5 gal nursery pots for $1 ea which I need to carry over my rootballs in dormancy over the winter. I'll go out and sort through his pot stacks soon for larger ones (tree size) for all the new cuttings I have started under lights (for outside next spring-LOL).
...and finally, our Menards (regional sorta big box bldg supply) stores sell the 18 gal party tubs for $5 ea which is a heck of a deal considering how heavy duty they are.
Will

The house next door was sold and some builder bought it. They tear it down and build a new one. I went there and talked to the manager to give me some of the empty pots when they do the landscape. I told them to throw them over the fence. When I looked, to my surprise I found 50+/ 15 gal pots and 30/ 5 gal. It was more than I bargain for :)) Now I have to fill them with brugs and other plants. My 1 gal and 4 in pots I take them from nurseries. Most of them did not charge anything, just go and ask.
Pat

The nurseries around here are all for the money. You will not get anything free.

Last weekend I got 800 black 1 gallon pots (what was I thinking?). It was a take all or none deal & they were free because it was freecycle.org (one of my favorite places). They were all neatly stacked & tied together, thank heavens & filled up the bed of DH's full-size truck.

If you live close enough & want a couple hundred, let me know.(seriously) I had seedlings in mind for them but this is way too many for me.

Linda

Oh my gosh, Linda. Eight hundred?????
Why not start your own nursery? - Just kidding.

Ingrid.

And I thought that 100 are too many !!! Ha,ha,ha.

Pat

freecycle is a good idea. I have asked around. They are cheap and they do not give anything away.

We had this issue trying to get boxes when we moved. They claimed it would be a liability to give them to us. Arg!

WWW isn't that the truth sometimes.
I posted on freecycle also about used nursery pots. NOTHING.
Had given away brand new lawnmower and other things I had doubles of. So I quit freecycle. Cause everytime I got interested in something...I never made it.

Just do not have the time to hang out there as much as you probably need to, to be the FIRST to respond or to get to know the folks so they start sharing with you.

Lucy

I am on more than one freecycle in our area. I have individual emails going to my inbox & I check several times a day. I get stuff (& get rid of stuff) all the time. I am very flexible about pick up times & I usually include my phone number if they want to call.

About once or twice a year, I put a wanted on really large pots & every once in a while I get 1 or 2. This was really amazing to get so many (it was an offer). One person was a no show before me so I lucked out.

In 08 I had 200 seedlings (just Brugs) & not enough pots, I was determined that a pot shortage would not happen again. I think I have reached my goal (for the 1 gallon anyway).

I can only conceivably think about needing maybe 300 of them & I can pass a few dozen to my DD (who is into ponds & helping me set mine up next year). The rest are looking for homes. I will check with a couple garden clubs & other Master Gardeners too.

Periodically the cat litter containers build up & we get rid of a bunch & there is usually someone thrilled to get them. Handy for garden supplies & keeps them dry & clean & you can stack them away in a corner until spring.

I go to liquor stores for boxes. They put them out once a week when they fill the shelves (Thur here) & people can just come & pick up what they want. They must put out 100 each week & more around holidays. I use them for weed-free paths in the gardens. If we ever move I keep saying the neighbors will think those people will drink anything & everything!

Linda

Linda - Our MN gardening forum puts on garden swaps every spring and fall. If yours does this it would be a great place to 'share' your bounty. I always seem to have bunches of smaller pots but run short as I upsize cuttings.
Our garden club also has a spot at the spring sale where people can bring and pick up pots without paying anything.
...just thoughts as 800 is one honkin lot of pots - LOL,
will