Pots

Usually the plastic pots you get at the garden centre come in black, green or brown. Sometimes you get them in jazzy yellow, pink and blue. What they all have in common is they block out light to the roots of plants.

Now I've loads of plastic food containers (yoghurt, cottage cheese and the like) which I'd like to use to pot on seedlings. Some are clear and some let a little light in.

My question is will this help or hinder plant growth? Or will it make no difference? (This is what I think as the soil blocks light to the roots, which when they grow through the bottom of the pot it's time to transplant or pot on anyway.)

Any views?

Comments

[Joanna]

What an interesting thought. It only now occurs to me that the pots in which orchids are sold are transparent, presumably because the roots need light

Joanna

[SquareFootHammer]

I've used my old yoghurt pots this year for potting up seedlings, and they don't seem to mind one little bit about having their roots exposed to light. The plants are all big and strong, so I'd say go ahead, recycle away.

[Liz]

I use plastic milk bottles to make all my plant labels as well. I do try to avoid buying anything a plastic pot or tray though because if you can't find another use for them they're very tricky to recycle. In fact, straight into land fill in my area.

[joco]

Hiya John,

On and off, this topic has been on my mind over the past few months.
Moisture and air are the basic needs for root growth. But then, advice for rooting buzy lizzies is to have the cuttings in a clear jam jar and on a sunny window sill.
The touch of guilt over yoghurt pots coming through in the comment above seems ironic: If you make your own yoghurt in the first place, there is no need for fiddly little yoghurt pots to be around.
Ah, yes, but then there are all those plastic 1/2 gallon milk bottles.
Sigh! We need our own cow.