Cheap pots

[marcela]

Hi all,
Wondering if others are having problems with certain unglazed pots where within a few days of potting they start getting whitish sort of growth on the outside starting from the bottom up and going all around the pot (hope this makes sense),I had to replace a pot on the weekend due to pup knocking over tree,got the pot home dunk it in water for 24 hours,potted on sunday and can notice the white stuff slowly developing.Any thoughts or ideas as I've got about 3 pots doing this and they are pots which I've purchased recently.None of my older pots have ever done that.

[Andrew F]

Might be calcium from your tap water.

[chipper5]

Also could be salts or minerals from fertilizers so possibly double check the amount you're using. I think you can scrub it off with a toothbrush.

Chipper5

[Jester]

Some cheap and nasty pots often have a high degree of salt in the ceramic and so it could be the salts leaching out. Ordinarily I would have said that I would not have expected this to happen so fast but the "24 hour dunk" may have accelerated this process. Alternatively, the bucket/container you dunked it in may have had some residual chemical in it and may not have been cleaned properly prior to dunking or even a bit of both. Just my worth

John

[pjkatich]

Hello Marcela,

What you have described is not uncommon in areas with hard water. Especially with the less expensive, low fired pots.

One way to combat this problem is to rub your pots with some mineral oil on a regular basis. Clean and treat your pots two or three times a year and this type of build up will be kept to a minimum.

Cheers,
Paul