A flowerpot, planter, planterette or plant pot, is a container in which and other are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, with a round shape, tapering inwards. Flowerpots are now often also made from plastic, metal, wood, stone, or sometimes biodegradable material. An example of biodegradable pots are ones made of heavy kraft paper, cardboard, or sphagnum in which young plants for transplanting are grown.
For seedling starting in commercial or , pots usually take the form of trays with cells, each cell acting as one small pot. These trays are often called flats.
There are usually holes in the bottom of pots, to allow excess water to flow out,
Purpose
Flowerpots have a number of uses such as transporting plants to new locations, starting seeds, patio and indoor cultivation of plants, and the growing of tender plants in colder regions indoors.
Through the centuries, the use of flowerpots has influenced the horticultural use of plants, and the
Egyptians were among the first to use pots to move plants from one location to another. The
Ancient Rome brought potted plants inside during cold weather. In the 18th century, pots were used to ship
breadfruit seedlings from
Tahiti to the
West Indies. Also
,
and
Pelargonium geraniums were shipped in pots from other parts of the world, including
Africa, to
North America and
Europe.
In the 18th century, Josiah Wedgwood's flowerpots or , were very popular; they were often highly decorative and used as table centrepieces.
In Athens, earthenware flowerpots were thrown into the sea during the festival of the Gardens of Adonis. Theophrastus, c. 371 – c. 287 BC, mentions that a plant called southern-wood was raised and propagated in pots because it was difficult to grow.
The top of the flowerpot underneath the rim is commonly known as the shoulder or collar and can aid handling.
Classification
Flower pots were traditionally made from
terracotta. They were made and sold by the cast, which is the number of pots produced from a given quantity of clay.
The traditional sizes
Other sources give different values, and sometimes names, for the smaller pots, for example The Gardener's Everyday Log Book while agreeing on "twos" to "thirty-twos" has two different types of "sixties" and disagrees on "thumbs" and "thimbles":
A taller and thinner shape of pot, suitable for deep-rooting plants, was known as a long tom, a term still used. The traditional size for a long tom used for Primula auricula was 3 in diameter by 3.75 to 4 in depth.
Nursery
In the nursery business, plants are generally grown in round or square
plastic pots. Some organisations (such as the Royal Horticultural Society) encourage the reuse of (plastic) plant pots and trays across their retail centres.
In some garden centres (i.e. Edibleculture), this is done by not letting the plastic growing pots leave the garden centre, and simply place the plant inside a
cardboard (or
newspaper) sleeve for transportation. Peat pots and paper pots are also being used,
[ "New 'Friendlies' concept means plastic pots can be gone, for good"][ Gardening with less plastic] and have the advantage of facilitating transplanting
[ Investigating the Profitability of the Paper Pot Transplanter on a Small Scale Vegetable Farm] as they do not need to be pulled out of a container for planting purposes (rather, the whole of container and plant is directly planted). Also, for sale purposes, there is no need to recover the container as it is biodegradable and can not and does not need to be reused or recycled. Some types exist focusing on vegetables,
[ Investigating the Profitability of the Paper Pot Transplanter on a Small Scale Vegetable Farm] whereas other paper pot systems exist that focus on larger plants (i.e. trees, sugar cane, etc.)
United States
The sizes of plastic pots have been assigned an
ANSI standard by the American Nursery and Landscape Association.
[http://americanhort.org/documents/nursery_stock_standards_AmericanHort_2004.pdf , 2004] Pots designated #1–#100 nominally have the volume of that many
, but in fact a #1 pot has a capacity of 0.625 gallons (a "
trade gallon"). There is also a Small Plant series: SP1, 6.5–8.0
cubic inch; SP2, 13.0–15.0 in
3; SP3, 20.0–30.0 in
3; SP4, 51–63 in
3; SP5, 93–136 in
3. An SP4 pot is commonly called a "4-inch" or "quart" container.
[Z60.1, p. ii-iii]
Europe
Plastic pots come in a number of standard sizes, with a code indicating the approximate dimensions of the diameter at the top.
Size
The size of the pot will in part determine the size of the plants. Generally, plants planted in bigger pots will end up being larger; on average plants increase 40–45% in biomass for a doubling in pot volume.
[Poorter et al. (2012) Pot size matters: a meta-analysis of the effects of rooting volume on plant growth. Funct. Plant Biol. 39:839-850. ] This will in part be due to a higher availability of nutrients and water in larger pots, but also because
Root will get less pot-bound. This does not mean that all plants will thrive better in bigger pots. Especially for
succulents it is important that the soil does not stay wet for a long time, as this may cause their roots to rot. The smaller those plants are relative to the soil volume, the longer they take to use all pot water.
Bonsai plants are also purposely planted in small pots, not only for aesthetics but also because the low supply of nutrients keeps the leaves smaller and the growth down. Because they are often not as drought resistant as succulents, this implies they have to be watered often.
Shape
Water in the soil of high pots is more easily pulled down by gravitational forces than in low pots, and hence the soil does not remain wet for a long time.
[Passioura (2006) The perils of pot experiments. Funct. Plant Biol. 33: 1075-1079.] This is relevant as plant roots of most species do not only need water, but also air (oxygen). If the potting soil is too wet plants may suffer from a lack of oxygen around the roots.
Material
The soil in black pots exposed to sunlight will warm up more quickly than soil in white pots. Clay pots are permeable for water and therefore water from inside the pot soil can evaporate through the walls out of the pot. Pots that are glazed or made from plastic lose less water through evaporation. If they have no holes at the bottom either, plants may suffer from remaining too wet.
==Gallery==
, Little Easton, Essex, England]]
See also
External links
