How to Sanitize Pots for Reuse

Gardening is a fulfilling activity that becomes even more rewarding when we engage in sustainable practices, such as reusing seed starting pots. However, to ensure the health and success of your new plants, it’s crucial to sanitize these pots before reusing them. Let’s explore why this is important and how you can effectively sanitize your pots.

Why Sanitize Seed Starting Pots?

Prevent Disease: The primary reason for sanitizing seed starting pots is to prevent the spread of diseases. Fungi, bacteria, and viruses can linger in soil residue and on pot surfaces, ready to infect your next batch of plants.

Promote Healthy Growth: Sanitized pots help ensure that your new plants grow in a healthy, disease-free environment, which is essential for strong development.

Sustainable Gardening: Reusing pots is an excellent sustainable practice, but without proper sanitation, it could lead to more harm than good. Sanitizing ensures that sustainability doesn’t compromise plant health.

Tee’s Plants re-uses everything we can – it would be a crime to the environment if we didn’t. Some of our seed starting pots are on their 4th season now. You can help save money and reduce your impact on the environment too, by following these steps to reuse your seed starting supplies.

How to Sanitize Your Pots

1. Clear Out Debris: Start by removing all soil and plant matter from the pots using a brush or scraper. Or just shake them out well, whatever you can manage.
2. Wash with Soap and Water: Wash each pot thoroughly with warm, soapy water. This step removes remaining dirt and preps the pots for disinfection. If you stack your seed starting pots and they’re stuck together, the warm soapy water can help them slip apart. It also helps to do this in a bucket to keep the debris out of your drain.
3. Choose a Disinfectant: Opt for one of these:
   • Bleach Solution: Mix one part bleach with nine parts water for a powerful disinfectant.
   • Vinegar Solution: A more natural option is a mix of equal parts white vinegar and water.
   • Hydrogen Peroxide: Use a solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide and water for effective disinfection.
4. Disinfect Thoroughly: Soak the pots in your chosen solution for about 10 minutes or use a spray bottle to coat them. Ensure every surface is treated.
5. Rinse and Dry: Rinse the pots well to remove any disinfectant residue, especially if you used bleach. Then, let them air dry completely to prevent mold and bacterial growth.
6. Store Correctly: Once dry, store the pots in a clean, dry area to keep them sanitized until their next use.
7. Take Pride: Look at all the pots you’ve saved cash on, and from the landfill! Yay!