Pots - Drainage hole or not?

Hey Cacti enthusiasts,

What are you opinions on cacti in pots; should the pot be blocked/sealed or have a drainage hole?

I am going to make a few pots and was wondering if I should put a hole in.
(Will post photos in a month when my pots are fired!)

Hi,
You absolutely want drainage holes in all pots for cacti.
I'm assuming your making terracotta pots, the ones you can buy in shops aren't great because they only have one silly little drainage hole. If you can make them with better drainage holes they would be great.

Cool, so maybe 6 or so around the edge?

Also make sure that the hole(s) are situated at the lowest part of the pot. If they are raised up from the bottom (as they are in many plastic pots I see and don't buy) then the water will pool in the bottom of the pot and your plant will stay wet too long.

If you are so inclined you could instead just make them as display pots and then put a more suitable pot inside.

Cool, I see what you are saying, on both suggestions..

Thanks for the advice, its weird though i've seen several youtube videos where they block the hole for cacti/succulents

With regards to 'blocking' the hole. I think you may find what they are doing is covering the hole with a material that will allow water to drain but will stop the potting mix from being watered out. Many terracotta pots have massive drainage holes and cacti mix is for the most part a fine sandy material that will slowly be lost out the large drainage hole with continual watering.

You can use linen type material to achieve this or there is a specific landscaping fabric that will catch even fine particles but still allow water to drain.

Whatever you decide, you must have very good drainage for cacti or the roots will most definitely rot.

Okay cool good to get confirmation on that, I have seen flyscreen used in another video to keep the soil aswell

Just be sure not to use newspaper, it will allow drainage to begin with but will block and causes bacterial issues.

What Hellonasty said. My biggest problem with store bought terracotta is that they generally have one little drainage hole in the bottom. For that reason I use plastic but this is a matter of preferance. Even then I would suggest making sure that the drainage holes are "open", sometimes they still have a bit of plastic covering them. With your water sensitive species, Astrophytum.sp, Ariocarpus.sp and the like I drill even more drainage holes in the base. Hope this helps.

Great work there powerinformation!!! It would be awesome to make some terracotta pots!!!

More holes the better drainage, the better.

Some pictures would be great when finished!!!!!

Cheers! will keep you posted