have you tried mellingers? I think it is www.mellingers.com they have all the basics cheap. Not sure what their shipping charges run now, but they used to be very reasomable.

How about the resale shops, St. Vincent's works here, or Good Will, that type. May not find any out on shelf now, but don't hesitate to inquire, lots of times they save it for the season appropriate. Ask at Wal Mart, they throw away a lot of stuff, also perhaps Lowes, etc?

Large styrofoam cups work great for this - just poke holes in the bottom. Plus, you can write ON them.

Magimay...
Besides the excellent suggestion of the styrofoam cups, you can also roll your own out of a few layers of newspaper and a Campbell soup can...saw this technique on a Garden show.

Hey Magimay~~

Check your local nurseries. I visit a nursery here frequently, mostly to look and see what I need to add to my wish list. They don't grow their own stuff. So they don't need the pots. Every so often, they compost some of the plants and they throw out all the pots. This guy stacks them up by the dumpster and I can carry home as many as I want for FREE. He's grateful not to have them filling his dumpster. And I get them in all sizes from the little 2" pots and six packs all the way up to huge tree size. The huge tree size ones make great pots just to dump your potting soil in. And I use an ice scoop to scoop it out as I pot stuff. Get two of the huge heavy duty pots and turn one upside down, and sit the other on top of it to put your soil in. No back breaking bending that way.

Hope this works for you.

Casper

Darigold's and Dannon's 6 ounce yougurt cups with holes poked in the bottom are great for small plants! I even had a number of coffee mugs I was going to get rid of until I realized I could put the plant in the yogurt cup & then put that into the mug.

I use large styrofoam drinking cups. :0) They are cheap, lightweight and easy. :)