Let's Wash Dishes...I Mean POTS!

   Repotting season is coming to a close for many of us.  The plants are sitting pretty on the bench with new clean name tags, hopefully putting new roots out. The debris has been toted off to the compost pile. The potting bench is scrubbed and sterilized for the next project. Tools are clean and sharpened.

   Then you turn around and see....THE POT PILE. You know the one.  Every grower that has been doing this for any length of time has a small, medium or (in our case) large pile of used plastic or clay pots.  Ideally we do not want these to end up in landfills just yet. Most of the time they are still usable for many seasons to come but they need some TLC before being put to work. We don't want to use second-hand pots without some cleaning and disinfecting. Neglecting that step is a good way to spread virus, bacteria and fungus in your collection PLUS the microbes breaking down the old media are already present and will start working on the new media faster. 

This post has affiliate links. If you buy through them, C&H will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

I have cleaned many a pot in my time as a grower. Plastic pots, mesh baskets, clay pottery. You name it, I have scrubbed it. And if we didn't do a good job the first time, we scrubbed them twice. 

Plastic pots are the easiest.  The best thing for any pot washing endeavor is to set up a a couple of large tubs, bins or barrels, in a location where you can dump the water outside. (Not down your drains!). One container for washing and one for soaking. For plastic pots, the first tub can just be water and good amount Dawn dishsoap. It is recommended that you dry brush the loose media and debris off before tossing them in the first tub.  Leaving them to soak for a few hours or overnight is helpful. Give them a good scrub with the dishbrush of your choice.  Get all the dry roots, media and any other particles off to allow for proper sterilizing. Move the scrubbed pots into a container filled with with a sanitizing solution. We suggest soaking in the solution for 3-4 hours or overnight. 

Choices for sanitizing:

First Choice. We prefer 1-2 Tablespoons of Physan per gallon of water for hard surface cleaning like plastic pots.  We use Physan for a lot of hard surface sanitizing including our workbenches. 

Second choice is a 10% Chlorox solution. 1 part household bleach to 9 parts water. For example a five-gallon bucket 0.5 gallons of Clorox and 4.5 gallons of water. Bleach works great it just takes larger amounts vs the Physan, which is more concentrated. 

A harder project is cleaning your good Clay Pots.  Considering the cost and scarcity of these, they are worth the extra work.  The process is a bit reversed for them.  We start by soaking them in disinfectant for at least 24 hours.  Since clay pots are porous the disinfectant needs longer to penetrate the surface.  After they soak we start scrubbing them, usually with steel wool or wire brushes to get the dead roots, algae and fertilizer salts off the surface.  After scrubbing, move them into containers of clean, fresh water. Clay pots need to leach after being washed to allow those impurities and salts to come out of the clay. So we soak them for a full day, before emptying, rinsing and doing it again. Usually three days is enough to get everything soaked out.

If you are able, some growers like to bake clay pots in an oven or inside an outdoor grill to finish the sterilizing process.  Anything still in/on the clay will be cooked. Literally. 

That's it, that's the entire fun project.  Now grab some dish gloves and get to work.  You will be grateful for those piles of cleaned pots come the next repotting season. 

Happy Growing!