I had the great idea to make homemade orchid pots. Using concrete, after researching to see if the lime content would be harmful, of course. Here is my journey into failure!
I chose two plastic plant pots that looked like they fit together enough to make a concrete pot between them.
I taped up the holes on both – inside pot on the outside, outside pot on the inside.
I sliced up wine corks as spacers for air-holes.
I glued the corks inside of the outer pot. This didn’t go well, as I didn’t have proper glue. Later on I found my hot glue gun and that made a big difference. I also forgot to wrap tape around the corks like the tutorial said I should. Mistakes one and two!
Messy! I underestimated how much concrete to mix, so here there are two batches of concrete, both with a different water to concrete ratio, because I did it both times by look and texture only. Mistake three!
I weighed down the inside pot and put it outside to cure. Mistake four. It went below freezing that night.
I had to cut off the outside pot.
Then I wracked my brain trying to figure out how to get the inside pot out without cutting it up. It was the only one I had that was suitable, I thought, to be an inside pot for another attempt.
My bad glue choice spread everywhere, making it harder to get the cork plugs out. You can also see the frost patterns.
Finally, I dug out the inner pot and the corks. It broke. A lot. The top edge was very fragile, and the two different mixes of concrete did not become best friends.
I used my newly re-found hot glue gun to stick it back together, which also went very badly. The gaps in the cracks are huge now! I’m sure an orchid wouldn’t mind, more air circulation is always good. But it is kind of ugly. I will try again!
heretherebespiders 
It’s a learning curve, but one well worth carrying on with by the looks of it. Good luck!
– Esme as potty as you get upon the Cloud
Have you tried hypertufa? I think it should be fine for orchids, though admit I’ve only used it for larger containers …. In case you’re interested, I found the how to here: https://www.marthastewart.com/268091/pots-with-a-personal-touch-hypertufa
I’m in Ireland, so it’s not likely I’d find that here. I was thrilled my friend sold me 55lbs of concrete mix for €5! I have days and days of playing with it at that price!
I thought they had peat bogs in Ireland, so am surprised that you can’t get peat as a filler/lightener for your pots.
Mostly we burn it for fuel! I think they banned or are trying to ban the use of peat in potting mix, so likely wouldn’t mix it in concrete, either…?
I hadn’t thought about it being useful for fuel. Here, on the other side of ‘the pond’ we primarily use peat as a soil additive and/or mulch. BTW, we buy plastic-covered bails of it that are very difficult to fit into the trunk, but are good for sandy soil.
Ha! I like to bring home beach sand to add drainage to our muddy garden!
LOL, sounds like we’ve got opposite problems!
Here that would become a strawberry pot with plants placed to come out the holes. Hey, not ugly – it looks organic – quite suitable.
You could always sink it partly into the ground and let roots grow through…but it gets pretty cold there so maybe won’t work in that climate.
(Can’t wait to see the next attempt…learning from your efforts beats me having to make all the trial and errors.)
You sure did make a decent, thorough job of failing. If you’re not sure one mistake will do it, make a couple more just to be certain 🙂 It might have helped, too, if you’d greased the inside of the outer pot, and the outside of the inner pot. Glad you’re not going to let it beat you…
Didn’t I put that in? I did grease the inner one. With all the stuff glued to it, the outer one was too much work. I intended to cut it off, anyway.
If you did, it didn’t sink in when I read it… So, not a good solution either.
The hard part is the holes. It would be much easier if I could partially cure it, then cut them out by hand.
Well, better than I would have done . I’m reminded of the time I did a science project about sedimentary rocks and ended up with a cinder block.
Mistake five – the hot glue repairs fell apart the moment I got the pot wet. Might try superglue.
What a shame. Back to the drawing board?
I’m not easily discouraged! Have another attempt in the works now.
Look how much you learned this first time around. The next one will be perfect!!
I doubt it! I have no idea how I’m going to make the one I’m trying today work. But I do like to experiment!