Fed up with plant pots…

I threw all my small seed trays and pots away in the spring as I was fed up with the washing year on year.
I bought a supply of fibre pots online and also made some of various sizes using newspaper and I don't regret it one iota.
All the seedlings that were grown in either have thrived well in the planting beds and no need to remove them from the pots so no root disturbance.

I never bother washing mine.

I only ever use fibre pots or loo roll pots.

Me neither merlotgran in twenty years of gardening, hasn’t been a problem.

grannypiper

I only ever use fibre pots or loo roll pots.

DH always used loo rolls, cut in half, for vegetable seedlings.

I'm sure my DF used fibre pots years ago, I've used them too, but we haven't grown much from seed this year after failures in the last couple of years.

Me neither Merlotgran,jaxjacky never had a problem with them

Thanks all. When I was a new gardener, many moons ago I didn’t have a clue so I did what my RHS encyclopaedia told me, therefore I’ve always washed my pots because it said the leftover soil could harbour/develop diseases.

It’s interesting that not everybody washes theirs, but I don’t think I can change my habits now. I’ve washed them all for this year now so I’ll use them and the fibre pots I bought next year and compare I think. It’s good to know newspaper and toilet roll insides work well too, I’ll give that a go as well.

I’ve never washed pots either had no problems.

The only pots I really wash well are the ones that I grow tomatoes in every year, as they can harbour blight spores if not washed properly. I have bought a loo brush specially for the job and it works a treat with some Jeyes fluid.

Otherwise, I just keep a trug of water outside the greenhouse and as I remove a plant from a pot I throw the pot in the water. When the trug is full of pots I just swish them about a bit, drain them and store. That way I never have a whole load to do all at once...

Most of the plastic pots I use I've had for 15 - 20 years so I feel that I'm helping to cut down on landfill plastic. I did try fibre pots once but they were quite expensive and would have to be replaced every year as they weren't very durable.