AusBonsai

Hey Guys

I have just repotted some plants about 3 weeks ago and have now started to notice that there is white stuff coming out around the edges and nearly everywhere on the pot, My father is a concreater and he said it was lime. Can lime come from to much fertiliser? and should i repot it before in runins the pot or what HELP me please. what can i do to get rid of it.

Thank you

Beaumatsu

Sounds like mineral build up. Pretty normal, though it seems to be possibly a different issue here, given the quantity stated.
What medium are you using? Organic/in-organic?

Could you grab us some pics?

This mineral build up comes from pots that are fired at low temps rub the pot down with WD40 this does the job well.
John M

As The above.

Just mineral build up. Normally high levels of calcuim in the water can cause this on a larger scale pending your location. Not going to affect the plants at all.

I will try and get some pics up but it's eating at the pots colouring and destroing 70 dollar pots every time i rub it of it takes the paint with it. the minerals i use are perlight, zeolight,osmacoate, and an organic fertiliser from bunnings plus the soil is plugger by debco and i use rain water on my plants.

every time i rub it of it takes the paint with it.

Paint? Has someone painted your pots Bm? Unglazed pots wouldn't have anything to rub off, and glazed are done at fairly high temps so you shouldn't be able to rub anything of. What colour is the pot underneath the paint - is it white or grey? If it is, then that could possibly be the answer to your problem, they could be made of cement. Concrete/cement will certainly leach lime and cause your staining.

I honestly don't think I'd be paying $70.00 for a painted pot, and if it's rubbing off then I'd be taking them back to wherever you got them from.

By what has been said here it appears ( please do not be offended ) the pots are cheap Chinese pots that are painted.
Most pots that exude white lime or salt in cheaper pots need, to be weathered for at least 6 months to stop this happening.

When you put the soil in a pot that is not cured, it starts a reaction with the cheaper chemicals used, and you get this seeping to the outside.
Some of the Mi Kwang Korean pots, that were popular a few years ago were painted, but it was good quality, which did not rub off even with Metho or WD 40.
I have found another product that does a very good job it smells nicer than WD40.

It is called "Tonizone" a furniture polish that has Beeswax and lemon oil, it is silicone free, I use a sponge to apply it, it leaves a nice not over the top sheen. It is also very good naturally for your exhibition stands.

Cheers Pup

Your pots are becoming men.

Pup wrote:By what has been said here it appears ( please do not be offended ) the pots are cheap Chinese pots that are painted.
Most pots that exude white lime or salt in cheaper pots need, to be weathered for at least 6 months to stop this happening.

When you put the soil in a pot that is not cured, it starts a reaction with the cheaper chemicals used, and you get this seeping to the outside.
Some of the Mi Kwang Korean pots, that were popular a few years ago were painted, but it was good quality, which did not rub off even with Metho or WD 40.
I have found another product that does a very good job it smells nicer than WD40.

It is called "Tonizone" a furniture polish that has Beeswax and lemon oil, it is silicone free, I use a sponge to apply it, it leaves a nice not over the top sheen. It is also very good naturally for your exhibition stands.

Cheers Pup

Pup,

By weathering do you mean you leave it out in the weather with no plant in it for 6 months? How do you know which pots will need this treatment?

Glenda

I think that's what he means, all the pots I bring home sit out on a bench with the trees. They will end up out there anyway, so why not start to age them already, gotta get good patina on them some how

Jarrod wrote:I think that's what he means, all the pots I bring home sit out on a bench with the trees. They will end up out there anyway, so why not start to age them already, gotta get good patina on them some how

Thats it exactly, unless it is part of the collection that my wife has of mostly miniature pots. All pots I get are sat on benches in all the weather.

Cheers Pup

hi man,

maybe try to use metho a bit of a safer product, i also recomend some tissues sounds like your pots have had their 1st orgasam. is that to rude for this site. you need to sit down with them and have a talk. be safe.

cheers

I've had this happen with several inexpensive pots and I now try to stay away from cheap Chinese stuff. A potter friend took the worst affected pot and put it through his kiln thinking it would burn off the impurities but it took some but not all.

I stepped out of my resolve and bought a good size matt brown cascade pot because I needed to get the tree into a cascade pot for training and at $20 I fully expected it to leach and it has been beaut.. no problems whatsoever. You just can't tell. When you are buying pots look to the details... how fine are the lines, how well made are the feet, are the surfaces and edges even and level or somewhat roughly made. The cleaner the lines on a pot the better chance you have of not running into this problem.

molty75 wrote:hi man, maybe try to use metho a bit of a safer product...

I am unsure of what this is without a pic but please do not use metho or any cleaning agent that has harsh chemicals on any pots, depending on where you buy them you may be taking off the patina...

I have a few pots with 'white stuff' on them but this just comes with age, nothing a little nut oil won't hide when showing them.
Is this the white stuff? If so it just comes with age (like grey hair ), if not post a pic so we can see.

hey there,

roxy you may be on the money although with my experience the metho worked well, reason why i used it is that it is good to get water based paints off surfaces and is actually not as harmfull as people think. not having a go just letting you know my experience worked well.
and yes i have heard that peanut oil is good but was told if not maintained it can cause a deadly fungle type of thing over time, have you heard this. not sure about it but like i said only heard about it. who knows the good thing is that alot of ideas get thrown in many helpfull ways great stuff always learning something.

cheers.