Cement and clay pot

[Txhorticulture]

Anyone ever tried to make a bonsai pot, aside from people with actual pottery skills? I was thinking a mixture of Portland cement, dry red potters clay, and maybe something like vermiculite (very lightweight) and a small amount of granite chips for color and texture. I could just pour it into a pre-made mold.... am I crazy? Large bonsai pots are really expensive and hard to find... I have more ingenuity and time than money right now.

 

[Ironbeaver]

Yes, it's been done, but not by me. Google concrete bonsai pots.

 

[Stickroot]

From my experience concrete is not good for healthy trees. I am making a pot right now out of Blackjack, is clay that can be wood fired, like in a wood stove, or kiln. I will post pics.

 

[Stickroot]

These are my first pots ever. Well the first was the rectangle, 2 the little round, 3 the hex and the oval last. The clay comes from hobby lobby, but if you call blackjack in Texas they will send you 25 lbs for FREE to try it! Search YouTube for Greg Ceramics vids and you can learn some great technique
That is how I started, clay tools are CHEAP on evilbay.

 

[Txhorticulture]

Cement should be pretty inert (not water soluble) so it shouldn't hurt plants (I think). Cement is very heavy though.

 

[michaelj]

Some interesting stuff is on YouTube about making cement or concrete pots.

 

[Txhorticulture]

Those are not bad at all. Good work

 

[Stickroot]

Thanks, they look not so good compared to Greg Ceramics, he makes amazing bonsai pots and makes it look effortless. I have made pots out of a recipe from the UK called Hypertueffa,
It is peat moss,sand and Portland cement, it turns out pretty lite and turns mossy in a couple months, they are fun!

 

[michaelj]

Hypertuffa looks interesting. I wonder if it could work for making large pots.

 

[Vin]

Anyone ever tried to make a bonsai pot, aside from people with actual pottery skills? I was thinking a mixture of Portland cement, dry red potters clay, and maybe something like vermiculite (very lightweight) and a small amount of granite chips for color and texture. I could just pour it into a pre-made mold.... am I crazy? Large bonsai pots are really expensive and hard to find... I have more ingenuity and time than money right now.

There's a song by The New Riders of the Purple Sage called Cement, Clay and Glass. For no other reason other than I like the song, those are the ingredients I would use. Also, I believe you'll need to seal the inside of the pot. Cement has some bad stuff in it that plants don't like. Good luck!

 

[Txhorticulture]

I'm familiar with hypertufa. I think the organic matter might prevent them froM being as long lived as something like concrete. I like recycled glass and have considered adding that as an aggregate. It's available for free here. Portland is cheap. Clay is cheap. A pure cement pot looks very industrial / post modern. And whIle it is strong a large cement pot would be extremely heavy.

 

[Txhorticulture]

Here is a concrete pot from Peter tea blog. It looks well done

https://peterteabonsai.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/concrete-pot-mystery/

 

[Stickroot]

I have a 40" Hypertueffa bowl that is 10 years old and in good shape, but here is what I did in the last hour and a half

 

[Txhorticulture]

I am impressed. So what are the advantages of high fired clay? Is is stronger, more durable? I'll go to the library tomorrow see what I can find. Fools rush in ...

 

[Stickroot]

I am impressed. So what are the advantages of high fired clay? Is is stronger, more durable? I'll go to the library tomorrow see what I can find. Fools rush in ...

A lot of hand made pots are made of it. It fires between 1700 and 2200 degrees.

 

[Maros]

Try so search for concrete repair products on your market. They work well. It is usually sold in bags, you just mix it with exact amount of water and that's it. Some of them are fast curing and contain fiber reinforcement, which is beneficial for larger pots. You need certain skill to work with those, but it certainly works. I have such pots for large trees, some are up to 1 m long. On the other hand they are rather heavy, to be honest. But it is good solution for special shapes and pot dimensions.

 

[M. Frary]

I am impressed. So what are the advantages of high fired clay? Is is stronger, more durable? I'll go to the library tomorrow see what I can find. Fools rush in ...

Durability. In my neck of the woods that means not cracking or simply falling apart when frozen to minus 20 degrees.

 

[Stickroot]

Durability. In my neck of the woods that means not cracking or simply falling apart when frozen to minus 20 degrees.

What kind of trees will live in a pot at -20°?

 

[M. Frary]

What kind of trees will live in a pot at -20°?

I have Tamarack,Scots pine,Mugo pine,Bristlecone pine,Jack pineProcumbens juniper,Shimpaku juniper, Parsons juniper,Amur maple,White spruce,American elm,Siberian elm,Boxwood and Hawthorn. These trees actually saw thirty degrees below zero last winter.

 

[Maros]

What kind of trees will live in a pot at -20°?

in my climate any native tree, almost.