Question about Hole-Less Pots

Sorry to simply pose a question; I'll try to offer more fun posts in the future.

Here's my problem: I bought two 'half' pots that are meant to hang on a wall (they look like pots split vertically). I painted them, as I like to do, with Patio Paints, figured out how to hang them [these are quite thick and heavy] and THEN realized they have no drainage holes! I have similar pots from Costa Rica indoors, which are meant for holding cut flowers. But, I really want to use these bigger, heavier pots outside for plants. Any hope something could survive the summer without drainage holes?

I wouldn't recommend putting plants in their without drainage (unless it's a bog/water garden plant), but you could check out this thread for some suggestions on how to get around it without drilling holes in your pot:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/611845/

ecrane3: Thank you! This is very helpful.. I have never had to deal with a pot like this, before - I just did not even think about it when I bought them to paint! I'll use the pot inside a pot technique.

Just out of curiosity: does anyone know HOW to 'drill holes' in a clay pot? These are thick - but I don't know that this would make it either easier or safer to try drilling a hole.

Very carefully! The first thing is to make sure you have the right bit on your drill, for clay pots I'm not sure if you'd want the same kind of bit you would use for a ceramic pot, or if you'd want a masonry bit instead. You should definitely find that out first though, using the wrong bit can increase the chances of cracking the pot. There may be other tricks too, but the one I know is to put tape across where you want to drill the hole, and then drill through the tape and that helps make it less likely to crack the pot. I think no matter how careful you are though there's still a chance of cracking, so if these pots were expensive or would be hard to replace I probably wouldn't risk it.

I would risk it, just do it slowly. Hubby has a masonry bit, tungsten tipped. Have not lost a pot yet, and I do a lot because I like having more than 1 hole.

Knock on wood but I have never had any problems drilling holes in pots either. The only problem is I can never remember which drill bit to use so I end up going to HD each time to buy a new one. They are very helpful there. Next time I should probably mark the bit with a sharpie or something.

Hi sissystars,

Thanks to DG, you are getting the step by step from a pro "pot driller"..lol
First of all you need to get the right bit http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/600284/.

I use both, Glass and Masonry, bits it is worth the investment. Have drilled atleast 15 pots with them.
Second Children plaster clay-molding type.
Here is what i do:
1) roll the clay into rings about an inch high .I have different sizes moulds now.
2) Place the clay moulds on the base of the pot and fill with water.
3) Use the Glass (spade shape) bit and start drilling. Make sure to take the bit out of the hole as you see the clay dissolving
4) Once i notice that the tiny hole is made (water starts seeping) I change the bit and use the masonry bit and drill which gives it a good round shape.

The masonry bit Is bigger than the glass one so the pot gets a good drainage hole. Its very important that you lubricate the bit as heat produced while drilling causes the clay pot to crack. And yes do not put pressure just let it go slow and steady.

Hope above helps.

Good luck and happy drilling...:):):)

Tweety

Wow, Tweety12 IS a pro. I will copy this for future use. I realized, as I put the smaller pots with holes inside the larger ones, that these particular pots would be especially tricky. They are 'half pots' that hang flat on a wall. This means that any holes would have to be on the bottom front edge or at the back bottom. Either way, there is the edge which would make drilling tricky. What's more, the water would run down the wall! Ah well, they are pretty. :-)

By the way, Vossner: I do have a masonry bit that I use to drill holes in our stuccoed exterior walls. Is that the same kind of thing you use?

masonary bits and keep the site where you are drilling wet. don't push on the drill, let it do its own work. We have done some terra cotta this way. I wouldn't use it on a porcelain pot, though.
Martha

I have about 5 of those half pots attached to the wall on my patio. I water them with ice cubes. The cubes slowly melt which eliminates the water runnining down the walls.

sissy, I just ask hubby for the tungsten tipped masonry bit and he hands it to me. He won't let me mess in his drill bit box. the tip drills a hole about the size of the head of a thumbtack, about 3/4" in dia.

Toy747 (great name): So, do you HAVE drainage holes in the pots? If so, did you drill them, yourself? The ice cube idea is brilliant - I've noticed that, even with the pot in a pot approach, when I water the plants both water and dirt tend to flow down the front.

Vossner: Long ago, I started my own tool collection. No arguments, that way. :-)

Yes to both questions, They do have drainage holes and I did drll them myself. I also water my strawberry jars with ice cubes because I found the water just ran out the holes otherwise.

Wow Tweety your advice is awsome. I drill holes in a lot of pots too.
Sometimes It take me a long time to make a hole because I am afraid I will break it. I am trying to understand what you are doing up there. lol HD sold em two different bit, one for ceramic and one for glass. Ace says I only needed one kind, a B&D 5/16 glass and tile bit. It works well , but dont make a big enough hole. So what are you using to make a bigger hole? and are you drilling the holes from the inside of the pot? Where is the water coming out? and what is the clay for? I sound like a dummy, but I am just old and slow. :)
Sylvia
you are so right about thos strawberry pots Toy747, all my pots are outside it would take a truckload of ice in the Texas heat. lol

Ok, Toy747, now you have to tell us how you drilled holes in the half pots. (And, exactly where in the pots you drilled.) I will take some pics and post them asap.

Sissy, It's been a while since I drilled the holes. The pots have been on my wall for almost 8 years. I had to go out and look at where the holes are. Some of the have kind of a flat bottom and of course that's where the hole is on those. The other one is more rounded and if you look for it you can see the drainage hole which I was not aware of until today. It is on the bottom as close to the back as possible. The hole was drilled from the outside of the pot.

Sylvia, I can relate to that heat. We lived in Plano for a couple of years.

I have drilled drain holes in clay pots and will add that it helps to support the pot. I use a masonry bit ( a larger one) and drill from outside to the inside. A piece of wood (4x4) will give support to the pot. Other wise, if there is too much pressure the pot can break. Have also drilled thru glazed pottery bowls with no problem. It does take time. A friend uses a dremel tool after soaking the clay pots in water over night. Haven't tried that one yet.

This message was edited Jun 21, 2006 9:31 PM

Soaking the pots sounds like a good idea; it would reduce the brittleness a bit.

I know I promised photos, but we have been under the deluge here for several days. If the sun pokes out today, I will take some shots of the wall hanging pots. Perhaps I'll take some of some of my other painted pots, as well.

Sissy

Hi All sorry for delay in replying but here are the answers to all the Q's and some pics.

1) Drill the holes from inside
2) I am Using 1/4 Glass Drill Bit and 1/4 Masonary Bit. The pic show the size of the hole. I prefer to make 2 or 3 holes rather than having one big one in centre. You could use Bigger bits if you want just one hole,they are available in 1/2 inch size aswell
3) pour water inside the pot before drilling, just enough so that the bits are immersed in it and there is water in the holes as you are drilling, making the pottery clay wet.
4) I feel the clay just gives it little weight and Decrease the pressure and vibration around the surface of the pot helping in avoiding of cracking. (That’s how I was taught and have been just following the suggestion …works for me).

Just make sure that you are not applying to much preassure and as soon as you have done couple of them , you will get the feel and probabily find a better way for all of us......:):):)

Tweety

Another one of the pot with holes

Oh yes here is the URL for the Glass Bit I did not order from them but incase you would like to , the price sounds more than correct
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42829

Tweety: Thanks for all this info. You seem to be a pot-pro.

As promised, I am finally posting some pics of my infamous hole-less pots. Also, some other pots I have painted. None of the plantings are very happy right now - tired of being soaked, I think.

I will add more pics to separate postings.

Another of the hole-less ones.

And a pot with holes! This is a strawberry pot with dianthus, lantana, and bacopa.

A standard pot with petunias and rosemary. It looks very nice when the petunias are fully in bloom

Maybe I should start a Painted Pots thread. This is planted with cosmos - most invisible in the photo!

By the way, does nayone know if one can post more than one photo per message? If so, how???

Only way to post more than one photo is if you use a photo program to collage them together first (in other words, you can only POST one photo, but some photo programs will let you combine multiple photos into one file first, then you can post that one file). Otherwise, you'll have to reply to your original post and post a new pic in each reply if you want multiple pics.

Thanks, ecrane. Do you think posting a folder of pics would work?

By the way, I started a new thread for Decorative Containers/Painted Pots.

I don't think you can post anything besides a jpg file, so folders won't work. I know I saw a discussion somewhere a while back where people who had done this collaging of images into one picture mentioned what photo software they used to do it, unfortunately I have no idea what forum it was in, but if you try searching around you may run across it, either that or keep your eye out for the people who post pics like that and dmail them to ask how they did it.