Nursery pots drainage holes

After checking all my local retailers and garden centers all I could find was expensive fancy pots to grow in.. So I got online and bought a bunch of cheap nursery pots. Well they have arrived, and I'm surprised to find the drainage holes are quite big. I can easily fit my thumb in each hole.. The fancy pots at retailers had holes like 1/3rd the size of these cheap pots.

I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil and I'm thinking when I go to fill the pots that the soil will just fall out these rather large holes. Are thumbsize holes normal? The middle hole must be close to the circumference of a quarter...

Should I gorilla tape them closed a little bit or will this have an adverse affect on the plants? Like would the plant roots uptake the glues in the tape?

Thanks for your replies.

my pots have big holes too, i put sterilized lava rocks on the bottom of my pots before placing soil in. the rocks will cover the holes, and keep dirt from comming out, it will also help with overall drainage. just use big enough rocks to cover the holes, and make sure u boil the rocks in water for a while to kill any germs

KSMO said:

my pots have big holes too, i put sterilized lava rocks on the bottom of my pots before placing soil in. the rocks will cover the holes, and keep dirt from comming out, it will also help with overall drainage. just use big enough rocks to cover the holes, and make sure u boil the rocks in water for a while to kill any germs

Click to expand...

I guess this doesn't pose a problem with the roots like getting tangled in the rocks? Is it still simple to pot up to larger pots with those rocks in the bottom?

Ace Smoking said:

I guess this doesn't pose a problem with the roots like getting tangled in the rocks? Is it still simple to pot up to larger pots with those rocks in the bottom?

Click to expand...

Well i cant give you a 100% answer on that, simply because i haven't done it multiple times. What i can tell you is that my last plant i flowered had rocks in the bottom. these rocks were not lava rock, they were those smooth, cortz crystal white rocks. i had taken them from a neighbors garden. when i went to dump the pot after the harvest, i pulled the plant out by the stem and all of the soil cam out with it. most of the rocks remained on the bottom of the pot. i think one or 2 were attatched to the soil, but probably just pressed in.

so maybe u should use some smooth rocks.

or maybe just double up on your pots. place one inside the other and offset the holes?

dont worry about it at all, fill it up and water as nomal and it turns into a solid like state,it wont be loose soil, if the little bit of soil that comes out when you put it in the pot you could just pick it up..........

Thanks guys. I tend to worry without reason. I'll just try it with only soil on the first few, and if it loses a lot of soil I'll try the rocks or the double pot technique... If the roots start coming out of the holes do I cut them back or just let them roll onto the lids?

darkdestruction420 said:

dont worry about it at all, fill it up and water as nomal and it turns into a solid like state,it wont be loose soil, if the little bit of soil that comes out when you put it in the pot you could just pick it up..........

Click to expand...

My pots have larger holes and this is exactly what I do and have never had a problem.

Those pots are specifically designed to drain properly. If it's for commercial use... you can count on it. lots of $$$ depends on the design.