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 