I used half packing peanuts in some large planters once. I would not do it again. My plants did not grow very well and it was a big mess when I cleaned out the pots. A better solution is one of those dolly-like pot movers IMO.

I put all sorts of crumpled up black plastic pots that plants came in also 6 pack plastics. This creates air pockets also so ceramic and terracotta planters will not crack.

I had HUGE pots at my last house. I used packing popcorn for the majority of the pot. Then I put a black trash bag inside the pot filled with dirt. The dirt was only about 8" deep. It worked! 🌻

I’ve used all manner of filler — water bottles, packing material, pieces of wood we didn’t need.

I used a similar thing to these before, too … HD, Lowe’s, etc sell them, different sizes. It always depends on what I’ll be planting.

I have two very tall planters on my driveway currently, and just place a potted plant inside the openings (but they’re narrow at the top).

I also used packing peanuts in my planters successfully. I am considering buying this pot lifter gadget this year because I need to bring in a couple of my bigger planters.

https://www.kinsmangarden.com/product/Pot-Lifter

Packing peanuts is what I've always heard/read but never tried it since I was picturing just what texanjana said - a big mess. Soil will filter in between all those peanuts as you water and you'll probably have to add more from the top over the season. Another thing to consider is if you have something lightweight in the bottom half, the pots are top heavy with soil. With tall plants in them, strong winds might be able to blow them over - if the pots themselves are lightweight and not some kind of ceramic or stone.

I have heard of using packing peanuts too, but I wouldn't want that leaching into the soil. Using the black plastic might be an idea or better yet one of those things like Jinx shows. @texanjana the planters will go on top of mulch, would be hard to roll them around. I do use those on concrete or brick surfaces.

ETA: @jmck_nc I just looked at your link. That would definitely come in handy as we also have some large (heavy) pieces of flagstone I want to move. Our pots are at least (probably a bit bigger) than shown in the link. Thank you!

Ask This Old House had a gardening segment one time on the difference between certain types of packing peanuts. one type turned to mush from water. The other type maintained their same - what's the word? integrity? Sadly, I do not recall anything else.

You could dump a bunch of perlite in the bottom. Then drainage would be normalish. But if the plant doesn't need that large a pot, I'd use the planter as a cache pot and stick the shallower pot on a couple bricks or something to get it the right height.

I’ve used crumpled aluminum soft drink cans. Worked well for me.

Any type of Styrofoam, even the big chunks and pieces that come in boxes. Do not use Styrofoam which is greenish, it melts!

I have large ceramic pots which are heavy and deep. I put Strofoam, plastic pots, anything I can fill the pots with. I never had a problem and could move the pot around if necessary.

I do not use any of the above when I grow vegetables or anything you would eat. For flowers, its fine. It provides good drainage and is lightweight.

Jane

I have 3 large (20" wide x 18-19" tall) plastic pots that look like clay. I put 16 oz empty plastic water bottles in bottom of pot. I probably use 8-10 bottles and don't have any barrier between soil and bottles. It works well and saves some $$ on soil, as well as makes the pots easier to move. I use these for flowers.

Use the packing peanuts to fill old pantyhose or onion bags, then use those to add to the bottom of your container. They eliminate the mess and can be reused.

I used styrofoam chunks once and the ants found it and broke it down into tiny little pellets and carried them away. There were styro tiny pearls everywhere in my garden - never again! I since switched to gallon (or 1/2 gallon plastic milk/water jugs- with lids). Then a layer of weed block cloth with the soil on top of that. I put water in the jugs because it keeps the soil warmer in freezing weather. Just be sure to leave room for frozen water expansion when you fill them.

I use pine bark mulch. Works well and decomposes some after a couple of years but you can refresh it. I usually just put another pot inside the large pot on top of the mulch.

I tried styrofoam once and would never do that again. A big mess.

I also use a pot within a pot. I have an extensive collection of nursery pots of all kinds of sizes from large 20 gallons for trees to 4 inch pots. If I want to move a pot, I can pull the nursery pot out and move the pot separately. For a better fit with the nursery pot, I have used bricks in the bottom (also easy to remove) and placed worn out potting soil around the edges and mulch on top to hide the pot when necessary. For moving I have used the above linked pot lifter. Although for really large pots, I am considering getting a dolly. It would also help with trees I want to move inside for overwintering.

If I were filling something large that I wanted to be all organic matter, not plastic, then I would probably use tree branches or brush trimmings and then allow a good potting soil to fill in spaces. If nitrogen leeching was a concern while the tree branches broke down, then I would add some nitrogen (alfalfa pellets, blood meal, fish emulsion, etc) and let it sit a few weeks before planting, depending on the plants. If the plants were some shallow rooted annuals, I would plant right away. If the plant was a specialty item that I searched the internet for months and paid a high price for, I would be more careful.

Thank you all for your input. To clarify, I will be putting small bushes into two of these planters. No annuals (it's not time to plant annuals here yet anyway.) I need the width of the planters but not really the depth. The bushes (one is a hydrangea, the other a new rhodi) will eventually be moved to the ground. The bushes are small at this point and I've had good success in growing starter plants in pots for a year or two before transferring to the ground. I have a rose and a hydrangea (potted) on the patio right now. I also have a mock orange in a very large ceramic pot on the patio - I hope it can live there for a long time. : ) I think we will go ahead with potting soil, maybe perlite and/or mulch to fill up some space. We don't have things like plastic bottles (other than milk jugs) and drink cans around here and I have not had pantyhose in years!! I had to laugh at that one! Thanks again!

ETA: I don't want to use a pot within a pot because the roots will need to grow. Tish, we have a dolly, but not sure how well that would move across the ground. I do think I will order one of those pot lifters shared above though!! Of course they are out of stock right now. : (

Tina, thank you for explaining what you are planning as I think you solved a problem for me. I have some rose of sharon I need to dig up but where they are going won't be ready for replanting for quite awhile, possibly not until next year. I have some huge planters in the garage - it never occurred to me to use them!

I used to have to maintain several of these. But using one as a permanent home of a perennial and as a seasonal home for annuals are two different problems. Many, although hardly all, perennials won't do well with constant disturbance, so shifting the pot around and re-potting isn't going to result in much success. In many cases of more permanent oriented plants, we used concrete stationary planters, soil all the way though. On the flip side, with annuals or short-lived perennials, we used whatever plastic things we had on hand, in our case a lot of old broken plastic pots, to fill up to the point we needed soil. I often used landscape fabric to line the pots to prevent soil from eroding out and into other areas where it would be wasted. On the medium level, which is what I do at home, I use a dolly to cart the biggest pots around and inside. I have styrofoam packing pieces (not peanuts, big pieces) that I save or else other broken plastic things like have been mentioned here. I have occasionally used wood chips, but they aren't that light, they absorb water and can foul the bottom of a pot by staying soggy.

@Indigo Rose I'm glad I could help! It has worked great for me. I like some large potted items, on my patio and in landscaped items. It works well to grow perennials until they get too large and then I transfer to the ground. @l pinkmountain again, I don't think a dolly will work well on the ground. We don't have plastic things laying around as we recycle rather than keeping those type items. The plants will not be constantly disturbed, moved around or repotted. I have some concrete planters also, vintage, inherited from my mom : ) I have a drift rose in one and a Peggy Martin rose in another and a pink hydrangea that I believe did not survive the winter. : ( These planters are no where near as deep as what I have mentioned. I also have my great grandmother's cast iron "tub" used to wash clothes in! I have a rose growing in it also. For some reason, it thrives in that tub!! Anyhoo - thanks for advice. I posted above what I plan to do.

As for the dolly, (yes I know you don't want to use one) ours has big fat wheels which seems to help. It's not ideal, but since we only move them once a year, it works for the short period of time we employ it. I had a similar experience trying to get some potted roses to survive. I read a lot about how it was fine and possible, and yet mine died. I posted about it on the rose forum. Many suggested I move in for winter. It's not the cold or warm that does them in, it's the constant shifting between the two. What I think I did was leave the insulation on too long outside. But our spring was erratic and lasted longer than normal. I thought I was protecting it. So it's a dance for sure. I am seeking some type of tent-like insulating covers this time, that I can easily put over and around a pot but just as easily take off, for those back and forth times. I used staked burlap before, which cannot be easily taken off and put back up . . . Some pots I have I can move around easily in and out of the garage, and some not so much.

I’ve used packing peanuts before - too messy for me. I have several of these in various sizes (8” - 16”) and love them!

Pink, these new planters (plants are new not planters) will not be moved in and out, nor are the ones I already have, or the concrete planters. We are in TN. I can't remember where you are located, but I'm guessing you have harsher winters. All of my potted roses are doing fine, other than the Peggy Martin (which was dubbed the Katrina rose - google for story). It's been a rather delicate plant. I don't use any type of insulation here, but we did cover a few plants a few weeks ago when temps dropped dramatically - things were already budding/blooming. That's when every glorious bloom on my tulip bit the dust. Oh well, at least we got to see it in full bloom! I love gardening and am happy I inherited my pappaw and parents green thumb : )

You mentioned you don't want to use a pot within a pot, but if the inset pot is right-sized I'm not sure how having soil on top of a barrier allows for more root growth than in a pot that takes the same space. I'm curious about that.

I use a pot within a pot with orange inserts shown above for most of my large planters.

But for my English Chimneys, I use PVC pipe. Depending on the chimney size, I use 8"- 12" diameter white PVC pipe measured from the ground to where I want the bottom of the pot to sit inside the planter. Perfectly sized pots now live inside each chimney, sitting atop the PVC pipe. No drainage issues, no mess, very portable. Portable is not something I can say about the Chimneys...they weigh a ton. Not sure if it will work for you, but it might springboard you to another out-of-the-box solution... Keep us posted on what ends up working—always looking for new ideas!

ETA: Before I came up with the PVC solution, I used pool noodles, but they compressed too much under the pot. Maybe you can cut them to size and cover with soil if you do not use a pot.

About 5 years ago I put some of DH's Lavender in a big pot that was in the middle of my flowerbed, full sun. I knew it wouldn't survive winter because it wasn't in the ground. That Fall I decided to move the pot near the porch for the winter. It wouldn't budge because the Lavender roots went out through the hole and the plant has thrived there since. After that freezing winter we just had, purple is showing! I'm glad I didn't add filler because I'd thought of it.

@Oakley perennials will live in a container. i grow lavender in a pot. i also have roses and hydrangeas in pots (although a think i lost a pnk hydrangea). You have to be careful about them getting root bound though. Thats the reason for my large planters. I”ve decided no fillers unless we use perlite, mulch etc. ive used all soil in the past but was hoping to go lighter weight.

@gardener123 good idea but i dont think so for bush type plants. see my above response for what i decided to do. thanks for weighing in!

Skipped down to say that you can use a plastic nursery pot turned upside down in the bottom of a large planter, essentially making a big air pocket, to make it less heavy.

I planted so much yesterday (including big pots!) and am headed to the nursery again in a few minutes.

Plants have gone way up in price around here! I need a greenhouse. :)

@Jilly I haven't noticed an increase yet, but I haven't bought much (so far). I bought several smaller perennials last year and started them in pots and we will be planting those soon. I did buy (ordered) a couple of muhy grass plants - I never see it in nurseries here, although it will grow here. I've started using perennials in many of my pots too, although I will add a few annuals. I'm still waiting on two new clematis to arrive. Of course, I will have to buy a couple of ferns, but I've seen them out and they seem to be about the same as last year in price. We have had to cover a few plants the last two nights and will again tonight. Still a chance of frost here for a couple more weeks, so I won't do much planting till then. Share what you find at the nursery today!

Tina, I got a ’Flamethrower’ coleus, several mandevillas, several pots of cordylines, two ‘Sunshine’ ligustrum, oxalis, and a large croton. It is a bit early, so stock at my nursery is a bit low. I’m working on pots mostly, still looking for portulaca … oddly very tough to find the last couple of years!

ETA: I saw some beautiful bouganvillea pots, but decided last year that I will never have another thorny plant again. I’ll enjoy them from afar. :)

@Jilly I usually do a pot of portulaca, in memory of my dad, he loved them! I haven't had a mandevilla in a couple of years as I planted the mock orange in the large pot that I used to put the mandevilla in (with a cone type trellis). May have to find a spot for one this year. I do a hanging pot of the deep pink bouganvillea. Much of my back yard gets full sun, so it does great there. Enjoy!!

Thank you! I’ll think of your dad when I find and plant the portulaca. ❤️

FWIW, portulaca is dead easy to plant from seed. It even self-seeds here in the frozen north. I have found it to be not as common as it once was, so I started growing it from seed. I just literally sprinkle some seeds over and area where I want to plant it. I used to grow it in hanging baskets and porch planters in hot dry areas. Now I have mostly wet shade so I dunno. I have a sort of planting scheme of red, orange and yellow in pots that I put around my fire pit so it isn't just a big circular blob in the yard when we're not having a fire. Last year I planted some kniphofia, can't ever get that to grow from seed. We'll see if it survives. Portulaca might look nice there, for a foliage contrast. Last year I grew some yellow begonias too, that could grow in sun, they looked pretty good, got a lot of compliments. I try to put "hot" looking plants there . . . marigolds, dragon's wing begonias, etc.

Thanks, Pink! I may have to try that! It used to be about the most common and available plant around here, even Sam Walton’s place had it, but now it’s like gold. :D

Here’s my sweet little Flamethrower:

The pups next to it came from my DD’s pot of succulents when she lived here. A piece fell out unbeknownst to us. :)

That "flame thrower" would be a great coleus for my fire pit planters.

Honestly, look up the seeding directions for portulaca, it's like sow, cover with 1/8 inch of soil, mist and keep moist and in two weeks you have a the beginnings of a planter. You don't even have to thin them all that much. But they do need the soil to be kept warm. That's their big disadvantage, they will become "meh" if they don't get a lot of warm sunny days. That's why they do better some years here than others. Deer eat them too, dang it!!

https://www.burpee.com/blog/encyclopedia__portulaca-article.html