FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Whenever you go to Kroger (or any grocery store with a floral dept), Lowes, Home Depot, etc., check for empty pots that they're going to throw away. Sometimes you have to ask if they have any, but some places put them out on a rack.
For example; At my Lowes, they put all their plastic pots and trays on a rack behind the registers in the garden area. Unfortunately the trays are all perforated because they have their own permanent trays to hold water, but I've scored lots of roughly pint to quart sized pots in multiple dimensions. Depending on who is working the register, I may pay 25 cents each, I may pay nothing.
Also for example; At my Kroger, I've scored all sorts of sizes. From little 4 ounce pots for seeds, to over two dozen two gallon pots today. All free, I just had to ask.
Just make sure you give them a good rinse to get any soil or fertilizer out, and you're good to grow.
Will dancing naked under a full moon at midnight while burning sage the night before you go help? Well, it won't hurt.

woah... all this time, I've been sneaking behind the store at night to pull discarded pots out of the dumpster. I didn't know you could just ask for them

elaineo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 6:27 pm woah... all this time, I've been sneaking behind the store at night to pull discarded pots out of the dumpster. I didn't know you could just ask for them

Honestly, it depends on the store and on who's working. I have obtained more decorative type pots for free at times and had to pay a few bucks at others. All depended on who was working that day.

When I get leftover pots from garden centers, I always blast them with the hose nozzle (and water the irises as a fringe-benefit) then submerge them for 3-4 days in a tub of water (tap water is fine). This allows the fertilizer to dissolve and break free from the plastic. Then I give them one last spray to wash away any residue and put them in the sun to dry (and let the UV light kill any plant germs).

elaineo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 6:27 pm woah... all this time, I've been sneaking behind the store at night to pull discarded pots out of the dumpster. I didn't know you could just ask for them

From a corporate point of view, they're going to have to pay to have them hauled away. Even if they have a recycling program system wide, it's more for societal brownie points, they still have to pay to get rid of them. At the very least, renting a new dumpster just for plastics, then paying the sanitation company to empty it. Some have a whole new compactor installed to get as much as possible in so it gets emptied less often, but they still pay for it. You're really saving them money by upcycling the pots for carnivorous plants.
From an employee point of view, you're saving them a trip to the back to toss them, but those come in two types. The non-smoker will appreciate that they may not have to haul all these to the back and take all that time to toss them in the appropriate dumpster, especially if it's raining or cold and they have to go outside to do it. From that employee, you may get them free because they're already considered shrink (unusable), and they can stay warm and dry. The smoker is the one who will likely charge you a nominal price (probably up to 25 cents each) because you're now stopping them from robbing the company for an extra smoke break. Being a former smoker myself, I know they're a petty bunch, and will charge you just for that. What they don't realize is we'll gladly pay a quarter per pot because it's a heckuva lot cheaper than buying them elsewhere.