Another vendor at my market, makes his pots out of newsprint. I think he must spend all winter making them, unfortunately they don't hold up well in the market place.

Have you checked into jiffy pots? AMLeonard is a sort of quantities. amleo.com

If they were competitively priced to plastic everyone would be using them. But they all require a plastic tray to keep them together.

The rice hull pot seems to be the only one that can hold together long enough to finish a 90 day crop without having them in a plastic tray.

Use 'em or sell 'em quick or use plastic! Good for high turnover stuff, poor for anything that may or may not move.

There is one called the Cowpot they claim it will go 12-16 weeks in a greenhouse enviroment.The 3 inch pots ran about $.24 each and thats without shipping. Putting them in a 1020 flat is not a problem . Just trying to be a little green ----------Upnortdareh

I re-use any pot that did not sell or is given to me. I have several customers that bring me their pots from other people. I make sure that they are clean and santized before using. I usually don't use the same pot in the same year, and I store my pots in outside temps, around here zero for a few days. I haven't had any problems with diseases, knock on wood. Only problem is brittleness from the freezing for several years.

I've been wondering how to green up our plastic use, too. We reuse and recycle, but we're still adding way too much plastic to the waste stream.
On a trip to Belize recently, I saw that nurseries there were using pots with hard plastic bottoms, and a top more like a plastic bag. I've never seen these types of pots for sale here.
I expect the industry will not respond until we make a LOT of noise.

A 15-30 second dip in a 10% chlorox/water solution, followed by a THOROUGH rinsing to get rid of the chlorine can sterilize used containers. State laws control the use of used containers. Check yours. Length of dip may be different.

I don't sell many plants, but I DO re-use pots for my own plants before they go into the garden.

I expect our very cold winters do a pretty good job of controlling pests and diseases. I am not in the U.S., so need not abide by state laws. At any rate, we have not seen signs of serious disease. We do monitor, but it has never been a major issue.

Resurrecting an old thread--I've had a terrible time finding sources for biodegradable greenhouse appropriate pots. It appears that the pots made from rice hulls or bamboo products would work, but they are hard to find in flat-friendly formats and in quantity. None of my regular sources carry them. I don't know if cowpots or coir pots would hold up to my 90 day propagation cycle, with the constant moisture and humidity, but I'll probably end up trialing a case to find out, if I can't find anything else.