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Terracotta and frost

B3B3 Posts: 24,439
edited September 2021 in Tools and techniques
A reply to another post got me thinking.
If you're going to leave your terracotta outside over winter, is it safer full of compost or empty?
In London. Keen but lazy.
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  • LynLyn Posts: 21,340
    I’ve got frost resistant ones,  left them in either state.  I don’t know about non resistant one,   Well, that’s helpful isn’t it😀
    if I guessed, I would say empty. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • TackTack Posts: 1,152
    edited September 2021
    I leave mine outside, empty and dry. I know they are not frost resistant but I assume it's the water within the terracotta expanding to ice that is the problem so keeping them dry seems to be the key.
    Central southern England
  • B3B3 Posts: 24,439
    The trouble is, frost resistant isn't always or forever😐
    It makes sense to leave them upside down and empty,  I suppose. Nothing to expand in them 
    Thanks @Lyn.
    I don't want to put bulbs in them so that I can put flowers in reasonably early without waiting for the spring bulbs to finish.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    But isn't it the moisture that gets within the terracotta itself that freezes and expands? So they'd need to be kept away from damp and wet.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    I see Tack said much the same.
    Where I live 'outside' and 'dry' never happens in winter!
  • LynLyn Posts: 21,340
    B3. When I’ve had bulbs in tubs I’ve waited until they flower then take the whole root ball, intact and put them in a compost sack,  rolled down to pot size,  with holes near the bottom for drainage, tuck away some where out of sight to fully die down.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • B3B3 Posts: 24,439
    I'm a bit out of charity with bulbs at the moment after all the Thalia nots I ended up with last year. So you reckon it's the damp that's soaked into the terracotta then @Woodgreen.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    edited September 2021
    I think that happens here, @B3 as it's often been the rim of a terracotta pot that breaks off when I try to lift the pot, and this is well above compost level. My garden stays damp most of the winter though, so timber and terracotta suffer for it. 
    I tend to look for frostproof now if they are to remain outside. It's always disappointing to see a nice, non-frostproof pot shaled or cracked because I've risked leaving it out. (This applies to empty pots too.)
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 1,991
    You can make pots frost-resistant by soaking them in a 10%  solution of PVA glue.
  • B3B3 Posts: 24,439
    Does it make them shiny @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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