Ceramic Pot Wintering

Leaving terracotta pots out in the winter can cause damage.

Ceramic pot wintering.

Winter doesn t mean you can t have plants in your yard but if you have potted ones on your deck or patio you should be careful which materials those containers are made out of. While the coating on ceramic pots keeps the moisture out for the most part small chips or cracks will still allow some in. Ceramic being even more brittle than terracotta the slightest crack can quickly split the pot in two. Plus ceramic has no capacity for expansion and will likely crack as the soil it contains freezes and expands.

In his usda zone 4 garden ray mims director of horticulture at the denver botanic gardens likes the look of his large terra cotta pots and wants to use them all. Your climate determines which types of pots will do best in winter. You can sometimes find styrofoam pots. Untreated porous containers such as terra cotta and ceramic tend to crack and break with freezing and thawing.

There are steps that can be taken to help prevent your pots from cracking when old man winter whips through your garden. Much like terracotta and clay pots it is not a good idea to store ceramic pots outside in the winter. If the day temperatures are above freezing during the winter and there is no snow cover on your pots and it hasn t rained in a week or more crack out the garden hose and provide your plants with a through watering. The goal is to eliminate the possibility of water being absorbed frozen and thus causing the pot to crack.