Use the easy plastic pots that you can probably pick up for free or cheap. You may still change them out every growing year, even if just for the potting soil, so that will be fine for one year or so. At that time, cut back the leaves or rhizomes and use the same pot or similar pot again for the next year.

My sans do better in plastic pots. I agree about using the plastic pots inside of the decorative pot.

This one is still in it's peaty mix it came in with it's original plastic pot. I just stuck it inside this old pottery pot.

That's a beautiful pot!

By the time rhizomes break a pot, they've been smushed & compacted for a long time. If repotted every few yrs, one would never need to worry about that. Hopefully I'll never let any plant get that cramped until I get old & bat-shi* senile & don't even know I have plants anymore!

I wouldn't plant directly into any pot that gets slimmer at the top opening (like Akrrm's pretty pot) because the plant would never slide back out easily later. And most of these decorative cache pots don't have holes in the bottom, or, if they do, it's 1 tiny hole in the middle of the pot. That's not ideal for encouraging excess water to escape, and 1 hole can so easily become blocked. And to make matters worse, they make the hole by pushing from the outside toward the inside while the clay is still wet, which often leaves a lip around the inside of the drain hole that catches a significant amount of water. When I turn clay orchid pots toward a side hole after watering, a LOT more water comes out.

Very true Tiffany, good information to keep in mind. In addition, there was an excellent article "Why the earth is not like a pot" written for Bonsai enthusiasts which explained how water acts in open ground vs. pots. What I remember is tall pots drain better than squat pots (try it with a saturated sponge, flat and on edge), and using a more porous soil mix allows for more frequent watering which flushes the mix and pulls in fresh air. Why The Earth Is Not Like A Pot by Brent Walston

I prefer clay for almost everything succulent. Sans are no exception. I do repot enough that they are not likely to break the pot though. Some get fancy glazed pots, but I prefer hand thrown pots for my sans. This is because I like to stage my plants as if I were showing them.

Maybe that's the way to do it - check the roots/rhizomes and repot often enough that you catch it before it breaks. Thanks Mentha.

Thanks so much Al for posting that - it's very helpful!!

I like terra cotta for most succulents, and I use them for small birds nest Sans. But for my medium or large Sans I use plastic, for two reasons. First is the weight of gritty mix. It's just too heavy for me to lift big clay pots full of GM. (I lift and water each plant individually -- neurotic, but it works for me.) Second, I share your concern about the powerful rhizome. With plastic, I can monitor the "shape" of the pot by feeling it, and I know when a new pup will raise its head in a week or two. If the rhizome distorts a plastic pot, so be it. Time to repot anyway.

Mentha, can you post a picture of your sans in the hand thrown pots please? What do they look like when they are staged?

Some of these plants are not mine, others are not even Sans but you can get an idea. This was my first cactus show.

This is an amazing Sans. I took a picture of because I liked the staging of it.

Some pots.

Guy in white shirt on right owns the tree aloe below with the sans table

all of these are mine, notice not all of them are hand thrown but like I said this was my first year at a show. I have learned a lot since then. My favorite was the blue ribbon, double fan, dead center. I loved that plant. Half of it I sent to a fellow GW'er years ago.

Snas, cylindrica, red ribbon also is mine.

Two things of interest here, the huge tree aloe that belongs to a nursery owner and friend of mine and the little folded pot with the brown snail looking thing on it in the center next to it with a Haworthia in it, which is mine. I am looking for a Sans parva to go in this pot atm.

closeup

and also with a fockia in it, right now it is sitting vacant

The tiny little mam with the blue ribbon in the foreground is mine with the blue ribbon. I love this pot and have had a lot of different plants in it through the years.

As you can see parva has lived in this pot also

Thank you Mentha for taking the time to post these pictures and explain them. Congrats on your ribbons. It seems like an interesting hobby to show plants. Do you still do it?

Oh now I am so looking forward to the C&S shows coming up in my area - thanks Mentha.

Next Obsession, Aren't you in so cal? This is the CCCSS show and sale in San Luis Obispo. It should be coming up usually in May. No I haven't been to a show in a couple of years because of my work schedule then we moved out of state. I am still looking for a show here in Tennessee worth going to.

Mentha, I really enjoyed your show pictures. Sometime you should drive down to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. They have some wonderful plants there, tropicals, cactus and succulents, etc. Well worth the trip.

Yes, there are a couple shows coming up in LA County. SLO is a 3-hour drive for me, albeit a beautiful one, but I don't push my old car like that anymore. My SIL has a house in Atascadero and I used to drive up often but no more. I love it up there but in my field (business aviation) not many job opportunities.

Mentha, what is the double fan blue ribbon sans in the beige pot? Is it suffruticosa or something else?

Fantastic pics, succulents and pots! You're an amazing grower.

Russ

Ditto what Russ wrote - thank you Mentha! I checked and there are 3 C&S shows coming up closeby starting in May.

Yes, that double fan is spectacular - kinda looks like the (singular) one I just bought. Is that how they grow? I admire your choice of rocks and the way they are placed with the plants. And that tree aloe is something too, must be well looked after for years.

Next O, if you're talking about singularis, it's a small fan with pretty, banded leaves when immature but will eventually develop into a single, tall, horn-like spear that is very dark green, almost black. Singularis' name was changed to fischeri.

If you didn't mean singularis, what is the sans you bought as 'the singular one'?

Russ

Russ, good eye. Yes it was a suffruticosa frosty spears. It was a bit darker than what people show as FS. It came from Grigsby's so I have no reason to question the name though. I had to give all of my plants away three years ago. The best trick to being a good grower is don't show pictures of your failures. ;) Really the best trick is to know what grows well for you and concentrate on that.

Next O it would be really worth it to go to the SLO show. You could say hi to Nick from Grow for me. Richard Rowe, my pottery guy would also be there.

Thanks Mentha! That kinda goes with the 'do one thing, do it well' philosophy. Which I happen to agree with but don't always take that path when it comes to plants, I always spread myself way too thin and go in too many directions.

Russ

SLO pics from last year are STUNNING!!! 2015 show pics

Nice to see one of Nick's plants shown. BTW my children are going to go to Grow and pick out my Mother's Day gift this week and mail it to me. I'm hoping it's a Sans, but it may be a Hoya or Rhipsalis. It all depends on the pictures my son send me while he's there.

Yup, I'm not sure stunning even covers those pics from the 2015 show. Thanks, Next Obs.

Mentha, I hope you get something really nice, let us know what it is... pics.

Russ

I bet you're really excited about that! I would be. Next best thing to being there.

Russ, I was referring to the plant I bought recently, it's a single fan of who knows what but looks like Mentha's - I've never seen a Frosty Spears but it doesn't look at all frosty so doubtful that's what it is.

The story of the tree aloe as I remember it. My friend, Nick was doing some landscaping and the people wanted that aloe removed. It was a pretty old plant back then even. He never got an ID as far as I know. He's babied that thing in his greenhouse for years. To not see it in those pictures of 2015 makes me wonder what happened to it as it has always won first place for aloes.