oh and any other ideas for some homemade pots would be great! im trying to figure out cheaper ways to reuse stuff or make my own instead of buying them.

i also posted this in the houseplant forum, hope no one gets mad, i know i shouldnt be posting the same thing in two different forums, i just want as many different opinions as possible

Perhaps you haven't noticed this yet, but many of us read multiple forums (forae?)

Nothing to be mad about but pls. try to give folks at least several days to read it & respond, especially on the wknds; some folks have active & busy lives.

geeze If you have nothing nice to say why even respond? You are rude!
@ Amber Great idea go green!

I also love the idea of reusing tin, but they do rest, especially at the the water holes. Have you thought about using the can with a cheaper pot liner? As in, put an uglier pot inside the tin can? I have a can nailed to the window in my kitchen full off cooking utensils, and I bet it would be even more awesome with a plant inside. If you use a liner, you could nail it in and still remove the plant to care and water and then place back.

xo
kittee

If you can't handle one forum maybe you should stick to only one if it is over your head. This being rude to people needs to stop. There is no one in charge on this forum and you should keep your nasty comments to yourself. I did not know people needed permission to post. That is why I stopped posting, but this rudeness grates on my nerves. The hoya queen crown had not been given out yet. Amber sounds like a great idea, go for it. This is a forum for everyone not just those with BUSY LIVES. This drives people away from this forum.

Pls. excuse me folks, I mean no rudeness, I'm sorry.

Pls. lighten up, all I mean is that's now is peak summer, very hot & many people are away from their computers. I have interacted here enough w/ Amber that I hope she didn't have a problem w/ it. Gosh people, get a bit thicker skins, pls.

To be honest I dont think pirate girl was being rude... I think it was a "Just saying" sort of a comment... Please try to remember there is no tone in what you are reading... sometimes you just might read it the wrong way....

I think any reuseable pots is a great idea... anything to do with crafts is always fun! :0)

One more question what is forae? That is not a word. Did you mean foray, which means to seige or make a brief invasion. Don't understand that.

i didnt pick up any rudeness, i looked at it as a "just saying" type of comment too... ive also been trying to have a thicker skin too because i know that i can be quite sensitive about things (if anyone say that post a week or two ago where i had a melt down). i think maybe for the good of the forum maybe we should have a rule that if there is some rudeness or disagreement going on (unless its so bad that it needs to be addressed publicly) that we discuss it through email instead of the forum, that way feelings dont get hurt and things dont escilate further than need be. there have been problems here and there with rudeness but i think things have been looking up recently (i hope so anyways). i hope i dont rub anyone the wrong way with this post, i appreciate the support but i dont think that PG meant anything by what she said except that i might not get any answers right away because the forums have been quite slow due to the nice weather.

john... possibly the word for multiple forums? i dont know.

I think she was making a joke about the plural of the word forum = forae...

Amber, my main concern would be the size of the coffee cans that you are repurposing. Growing from cuttings, it can be years before the plant is large enough to need anything larger than a 2-4" pot. If your cans are larger than that, maybe you could take kittee's advice, in the interim and put the plant, in a correctly sized pot, inside the coffee pot planters they will eventually grow into? Mike does this with antique enamelware irrigators and they look great, especially mounted on the wall, as your planters would, too.

There are a ton of cute ideas for coffee cans. Turning them into lanterns is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I have none to repurpose. I was thinking about starting to create plant labels out of tin cans, though!

I have always been a thrift store and recycle junk planter picker! Do it up and post some shots and we will load you down with "atta girls"! ~ Mary

Amber, I used a coffee can briefly for rooting cuttings, and it rusted badly very very quickly. So, i'd recommend varnish, or rather a glass jar or something alike inside the can. Then you could decorate the pot with some kind of self adhesive decorative film sheet, for example. Rust or patina can look nice also, but the can could leave a marking on your table if you don't use a saucer underneath.

Hi Amber! I don't drink coffee so I never thought of that idea. I think it would work pretty good though. I also wanted to tell you that I find 90 % of the pots and containers that I use at yard sales or thrift stores! I have found fabulous pots and paid hardly nothing for them!

I agree with teisa that repurposing and thrift are possibly two separate subjects?

My guess is you will spend more on your coffee can planters than you would if you bought plastic pots bulk for I gave up long ago on having exciting pots, but I am always thrilled to see other people's pretty creations. So I hope you'll post some pictures if you do go through with it. :)

where would i be able to purchase bulk plastic pots at? is that how you get your clear ones?

Yes. A good source is Chula Orchids. He is very nice to deal with and thrifty minded. He always does his best to work with me on minimizing shipping costs. I usually just tell him to knock off a few pots if the quantity doesn't quite squeeze in with the rest of my order.

thanks gg, im now in love with that site! when i get money to order (prolly not till around february when we get some taxes back) im going to get a bunch of pots and clips! probably plant tags too. thanks again!

Amber,

I don't think I would use metal cans, and GG is right - I'm sure they would be way too big for anything but a very large, old Hoya. I do the thrift store thing a lot, too. I've found some real treasures, like antique bowls, Chinese teacups, soup cups (you know, the oversized, super-wide cups with a handle) are one of my favorite finds... I keep my masony drill bit handy for drilling holes my in my new found pots.

But you have given me an idea... We don't go through much coffee, so I buy small cans of it, and Folgers comes in nice plastic containers. I think they might make a nice pot.

Denise in Omaha

yea im not talking about the HUGE cans of coffee... im talking about the smaller ones that you see, we usually get them on sale so we buy the small cans, not the big ones... the can size (at least what it says on the can) is 11oz. are those the size of cans you are talking about denise or are there even smaller ones? we have some folgers right now in the nice red plastic container, the size on that is 10.3 oz. are those the size of the ones you get? i figured that they would be a good size for pots, maybe a little too deep...

No Amber, those 11 oz. coffee cans (my standard) is still too big for most Hoyas, way too big.

As I said early in the thread, it's the wrong proportion, both too big & too deep.

Just a side note. When young my father would fill the empty cans with compost materials, cover and roll them under his feet to process the mix faster for his outside gardening. He had a spectacular garden. ~ Mary

That's an interesting side note, Mary. Roll them for how long? I'm trying to imagine this.

Hey GG,

Rolling is an older way of mixing stuff. In my teens I studied glass blowing one summer & some glass we made from cullet (a type of chunk glass).

The rest we made up from powdered chemicals which we'd mix up up in large barrels used for sweeping compound. We'd put a wood block or a couple of sneakers in w/ the mix & then roll the barrels up & down the hall or btwn several people & it would help thoroughly mix up the powders (borax, sand, silica, dolomite, I forget what else).

He would mix soil, grounds, scraps, grass clippings and roll them while watching tv, he would decide on the progress and breakdown but I do not think it was for more than a few evenings. He was a big exercise nut and anything like this would work legs and abs he said. There is a lot you can search out there for more info. He did this in the 60's. He would fill the cans with cement and put in a rope pulley and wind it up onto a handle he devised for the arms. A real depression era baby! No waste. ~ Mary

Hmmmm... I like that story a lot, PG. What an adventure. And your dad sounds cool, Mary. My mom, the daughter of poor immigrants, was extremely thrifty too, and I remember when I got my first serious boyfriend I was so shocked when his family would do things like ... leave the fridge open while they poured a glass of juice, throw away food containers, not scrape eggshells or the mixing bowl perfectly clean. It was like I could hear my mother hollering from the next state over.

This all makes me wonder if I can find a can-shaped object big enough to roll-mix batches of medium. I so HATE the part where I am trying to integrate the different ingredients without smashing the perlite.

Maybe you guys already have a fancy trick for this?

Go to the local custard, sandwich shops they used to get bulk food in lidded buckets or dog food sometimes comes in large covered containers at a shelter. Removing handles for rolling ease. I have lidded 5 gal containers from Sheetrock paint they snap tight. Otherwise I wear a mask and mix in small batches with a wooden spoon. I know this is off topic from Ambers post, sorry. ~ Mary

Oh! You're so right, Mary! My mom has tons of those snap lidded buckets that her ... farm animal... stuff... comes in. I'll give her a call and have her bring one to me as a 4th of July gift.

And then I'll be in medium rolling heaven!

Yeah, sorry Amber. But this is a total dorky breakthrough for me, so I hope you will forgive.

For mixing soil I always use a mortar/brick layer bin. You can do large batches quick, with Harbor Freight scoops! (No smashing that I've noted!)

PG, I admire you so for sticking in, and weathering the education of new folks. I know that your blunt, straight forward style caused me to take your name in vain a time or two, but here you are 15 years later, answering the same endless round of (imagined) newbie questions, with constant sniping and griping, and you with such a calm, cool demeanor! For sheer staying power, knowledge base, experience, and overlooking bad behavior, I think you deserve a Princess of Hoya title. (Can't give you Queen, Denise has been sticking through as well, and Princess' gives you both reigning power!)

Hiya Cena,

Waving attacha here, longgggg time no see.

Well thanks much, aren't you the kind one, but pls. don't add me extra yrs.; only been on here 11 yrs. When I recently pointed out to Jeff (now posting as Cactus McHarris) we'd both first signed on here in 2001 he said, Yikes, time warp!!

Well I do hope I've softened somewhat, apparently not enough or not to some folks' liking ... but thanks to the others Amber, Golden, who understood both my point & intention, even if I could have worded it better.

Yes, I do believe Denise gets Queen, unless Lesli/GA were to return (I still consider her the founder of Hoya Forum), am happy to be Princess. Does that come w/ a wand? Or are you sending us some Hoyas to act as Scepter & Orb?

Other business (jewelry, if I recall?). Hope all's well including the family.

Got any of your fabulous outdoor blooming Hoya pix for us?

Thanks for the tip, Cena. I don't think I have the space for a mortar bin, but I'm definitely going to lay hands on a harbor freight scoop, because that's exactly what I need! I got ahold of a couple lidded buckets but I already had batches mixed, so I've yet to give the PG glass blower's strategy a try yet. Can't wait, though!