Try this: Turn them on their side and roll them on the ground. Gravity pulled the inside pot down into the outer one, so perhaps rolling them in another position might cause the inside pot to tilt and loosen.

Jen

Still have these pots stuck? I have some grasping-at-a-straw type suggestings.

If they are outdoors, try bringing them indoors to air conditioning. I you set them on their sides and leave them for a couple of weeks they just migh lose enough moisture to come apart. (Hope they aren't totally covered in oil now.)

Or set them in the trunk or floor of your car, again on their sides. Just drive around with them everywhere you go. The constant vibration might gradually work them apart.

Keep then on top of a blanket on your clothes washer for the same effect? Hey, that might combine with a.c. to dry them out.

Told you I was grasping at straws.

Yup ! Put the outside one in very hot water and then pour cold water into the inside one. Just as Plantlady said this is a trick learned to separate glasses that are stuck together. Should work.!

stumbled upon this posting and found a simpler solution. My pots were stuck together with some packed dirt between them. I turned the pots upside down and gently tapped one side, then the opposite side, on a concrete floor alternately. Felt like they were breaking at first, but really they were coming apart. Both survived :)

OH Wow, Lauren / YEP but maybe bumping on something that IS NOT hard as concrete next time :)

Wow ! I tried posie's method.. Great results ! Thankyou .. I turned the bigger pot sideways and ran hot water over it for about 2 mins then turned right side up and poured cold in the middle into the smaller stuck pot.. Jiggled and they came loose .. Thanks again !

I have just successfully taken apart 8 Terracotta Pots - also glazed on the outside in white -with this Hot water and then very cold ice water - had to jiggle quite a lot but it worked - thank you!!

I've just had this flowerpot stuck inside another pot problem and tried some of the suggestions above but to no avail. So I thought the thing making the pots stick together was probably a grain/grains of sand which is round like a ball bearing. I thought I'd try rolling the pot on a hard surface, my tiled kitchen floor, lifting it at each slight turn and hitting it down on the floor after each turn - going round the whole circumference of the pot and at the same time trying to pull the inner one from the outer one. Eventually after several 'hits' (not too fiercely or you'll break the pot(s) the inner one came free and I had my two perfectly intact pots. So I guess a little bit of friction managed to work the aggregate loose. Good luck if you have this same problem.

Same as @Lauren_Martino_yahoo_com, gave them a few taps on their side on concrete, and they came apart quite easily. Thanks!

Feb. 2, 2018 10:30 AM

I was able to unwedge a terracota clay planter from a plastic planter. They were really stuck. I took the plant with the roots intact out of the terracotta pot first. Then I took the wedged stuck planters to the kitchen sink. First I rinsed the stuck pots in hot water and then in very cold water. But what really did the trick was using a flat screw driver between the two planters. It worked. Whereas nothing worked before this, I was able to unwedge the two planters stuck together without harming either. I placed the plant back into the terracotta pot, but used a larger plastic pot to put the terracotta planter in. Problem solved. Hope this helps. The key was the flat screwdriver.

Great, thanks, everyone! I did the hot-water-on-bottom-iced-water-on-top to no avail. Then took them (in my case, two mugs) outside to the concrete patio and gently rolled them while tapping the side of the outside. In about 30 seconds the two gently fell apart, fully intact. Appreciate the tips :) Jane

bucket of ice water and then heat a quart or so of water for two minutes in the microwave...pretty darn hot. Put the hot water on the outside pot and the ice water pour into the inside pot. Worked like a charm no problem....two pots now....

Hi there, Ive had the same problem, two glazed terracotta pots, one stuck tight within the other. I just got an ordinary house knife, and gently nudged it between the two, working my way around and carefully made space, and now I have two separated terracotta pots!

This old thread was SO helpful. My local thrift store today had two pairs of terracotta (terra-cotta/clay) pots that were stuck together. Both sets were marked waaaaay down because of the problem. I did a quick Google search while in the store and up popped this thread; it looked like it might be possible to separate them, so I went ahead and bought them.

Each pair was stuck pretty darn tightly. I tried but no way to separate them by hand. Once home, I decided to try the easiest method first. I gently bounced them on their sides on mulched ground (not concrete, not grass). I rotated them as I did it, so that each successive bounce was on a new side. I bet it wasn't more than 7-8 bounces on the first set and pop - they came apart. Performed the same procedure on the second set - 7-8 bounces - and pop! They came apart. Worked like a charm. I now have four separated pots - all survived - no breakage.

Thank you to all above for an easy solution and enabling me to get a very good deal on some nice-sized pots!

Carol in Jacksonville, FL

Tried everything here to unstick 2 antique crocks. Nothing worked. Finally placed several vice grips (with padding under the grip) spaced evenly around the top pot. Husband tapped gently,

going around while I held them off the ground and they finally came

loose.

Had two new clean ceramic pots stuck together, both with drain holes. Taped the hole on the bottom one with painter's tape. Put a large glass vase in the upper one to minimize the amount of ice needed. Ran sink with hot water up to about 75-80% of height of lower pot, put ice around the vase in the upper one and within a minute, was able to jiggle them apart.

A good clay pot will sing like a bell when you slap it. I've removed a few pots by simply picking them up in one hand and slapping the side with the other whilst turning the pot. The vibrations will slacken the pots in seconds.

For badly stuck pots, soaking in hot water, then gushing cold water into the inside pot first will help, but it's the slapping on the side that does it.

Thanks

Just tried this. worked like a dream.

I place a ball of wadded newspaper inside pots as i nest them for storage. The method of rolling on the side and gentle bumping on basement floor worked well, just a few tries!

Thank goodness for old internet threads. I had two large 19" terracotta pots stuck. No budging. I rolled on side no luck, I tried hot water cold water no luck at first, then rolled on side and pushed/hit edges lightly and it pulled apart pretty easily.

Just rolled my two pots that were stuck and MAGIC it released them in seconds thanks

After a year of trying to unstick two terra pots, today I did the hot water outside, ice cubes inside! It took a couple of hrs.but they can unstuck!!!!

We had THREE terracotta pots stuck inside each other. i just submerged all three in our pond for 30 minutes and then half pulled them out the water and applied gentle tapping to the outer one with a rubber mallet . and hey presto! did the same for the remaing two. Water acts as a lubricant.