plastic or terracotta

Good morning folks!
Just a quick question,

What is your preference, plastic or terracotta pots?

Regards,

Walker87

each have pro & con.

teracotta.

pro.
*help moisture escape soil being that its slightly pourus.
*helps remove salts from potting meduim.
*looks very nice.
con.
*expensive.
*baulky.
*plants can become difficult to remove without damaging roots.

plastic.
pro.
*cheap.
*square ones fit more plants into less space.
*easy to remove plants with minimal damage.

con.
*no airation.
*salts acumilate in bottoms of potting medium.
*look like plastic. ( not nice and teracottery )
*cheap... "thats a +1 PRO"

i would use teracotta for the plants i really really like.
everything else into plastic.

It depends, I guess, on where you live and how deep your pockets are.

Up here in the north it has been my experience that terracotta is rubbish. It has proven disastrous during the Wet on a number of occasions as most terracotta pots have dismal drainage at best.

For me personally I find plastic to be cheaper, easier to handle, has better drainage and better space saving. This makes a huge difference when you have a reasonably sized collection.

On the other hand terracotta and glazed pots do look nice. I use plastic but a friend up here has all of his prized plants in fancy pots and all of his young or not so special plants in plastic.

Anyway that's my 2 bobs worth.

worth a note.

the teracotta pots all glazed in fancy colours ect.... dont go there.

they look nice yes. no good for cacti.

"the glazing seals the pot effectivly destroying its pourus propertys and will make it retain savage amounts of salts ect.."

I'm all for plastic, additionally square plastic pots are great way to use all of your available space.

yes totally agreed. square pots are the bomb.

leave the concentric lines up to the cacti... these lines look even better when looked at in the grid that square pots create.

i like square pots. they are like the "milk" that makes your cerial more enjoyable.lol.

Plastic has all the advantages and if you really like the terracotta look you can always sit the plastic pot in the terracotta one and then have easy removal or swap about for change if required. Terracotta is overrated in my books.

My biggest problem with terracotta is the lack of drainage holes. It also depends on climate. As SC said if you live in as climate with high humidity terracotta pots are rubbish. I gotta agree with Hellonasty on the square pots too for space. Off topic, checked out your blog HN...drooling on keyboard...