Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: David Nicholson on July 17, 2007, 08:32:05 PM
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Or should it be Plastic Square Pots? ;D
Old question-but new answers needed. I have run out of 9cm rigid, square plastic pots and my previous supplier has gone out of business. Can anyone UK based give me details of a supplier please. I need a couple of hundred.
The Essentials Company do supply them but are out of stock.
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I get mine from LBS in Lancashire. See http://www.lbs-horticulture.co.uk/
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http://www.lbs-horticulture.co.uk
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great minds etc
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http://www.smithnjones.co.uk/
http://www.jfcmonro.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=386
http://www.grow.co.uk/horticulture/pots.htm
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How do you run out of pots?
Go to the local re-cycling centre fill up the car boot and then wash them.
Or try
www.kaysdiscountgarden.co.uk
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Problem is that one wants them all of the same size so that they pack easily.
I have hundreds but got fed up with the nuisance of different sizes so I bought a whole box of new pots all the same size.
These are German and were bought in Sweden so unless you really want it I will not bother to dig out the address.
Göte
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How do you run out of pots?
Go to the local re-cycling centre fill up the car boot and then wash them.
Or try
www.kaysdiscountgarden.co.uk
You must be lucky at your re-cycling centre David I have yet to see a 9cm rigid square plastic pot at mine! Kayes only stock the thin walled kind that go brittle in no time.
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I get mine from LBS in Lancashire. See http://www.lbs-horticulture.co.uk/
Thanks for the link to LBS Anne and Mark. Not the easiest web site to use is it? Maybe they only deal with trade customers?
I have found a firm in Essex, H Smith Plastics Ltd, who supply a range of products including 9cm square plastic pots which they describe as 'individually pressure formed'. I hope they mean reasonably rigid? Details can be found on www.plantcell.co.uk
There is a link to 'smaller quantities for gardeners', and they seem to have trade terms for larger quantities. Prices appear to be:-
a case of 1000 £32.00 inclusive of VAT
" 600 £25.00 "
" 450 £20.00 "
although the site is not explicit I think those prices are inclusive of delivery although I shall check this out tomorrow.
It constantly amazes me that at my local Garden (and Leisure!!) Centre I can buy expensive pairs of shoes, vases of all kinds, Polar Fleeces in all colours of the rainbow and the poorest chicken curry on God's earth, but a reasonable quality square plastic pot-no chance :(
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Problem is that one wants them all of the same size so that they pack easily.
I have hundreds but got fed up with the nuisance of different sizes so I bought a whole box of new pots all the same size.
These are German and were bought in Sweden so unless you really want it I will not bother to dig out the address.
Göte
Gote,
a German brand 'TEKU' have been the best square plastic pots I have ever used.
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I looked at www.plantcell.co.uk but obviously I don't use the quantities you do. The trays with 15 2.5" square pots are what I use, but I buy them from a garden centre if I see them, or from B&Q. It's probably dearer than buying quantity and having them shipped over but I'm contented.
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I use Teku from a local company who sell wholesale and retail. I bought a box of 1000 11cm this time last year so I could have all my bulbs in the same pot
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Must have been a big pot, Mark!!
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ar ar! LOL
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Another favourite RANT of mine is on Carriage Costs to Scotland >:(
These remote little English companies, including Plantcell, don't seem to get it that Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness are actually on the British mainland and level much higher carriage charges than to places further south.
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It's the same for us
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Move South?? ;D
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As an add-on, this does not work in reverse.
When we want to send parcels out, either as individuals or SRGC Publications, the cost is the same as if the parcel was being sent from Central Belt or Birmingham.
It is just a rip off by southern carriage companies.
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It constantly amazes me that at my local Garden (and Leisure!!) Centre I can buy expensive pairs of shoes, vases of all kinds, Polar Fleeces in all colours of the rainbow and the poorest chicken curry on God's earth, but a reasonable quality square plastic pot-no chance :(
Sadly, most garden centres have little to do with gardening anymore. There is not enough money in it. – think of the poor growers though! All those around here are lifestyle centres that sit in better with the UK's greed culture.
Decking anyone? ;)
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having worked in a couple of garden/lifestyle centres I know what they get up to. When we have rubbish weather like this and the grower cant sell his/her bedding plants the garden/lifestyle centre will offer a ridiculous amount to buy the stock. Does this then give the public a bargain? No, the price stays the same. In the next few weeks £1000s of bedding will be dumped by garden centres. I suggested that every customer gets a few instead of skippng them. The answer was no
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Regarding pots there are a place in Sweden (many actually) where there is an ample amout of pots.
It is the cemitaries. I am not suggesting for anyone to steal from the dead, but the cemitaries in Sweden often takes care of the graves for persons and hence use a lot of bedding plants and the pots are separated from other waste.
In Sweden Teka is a big brand and hence many uses them and there are a lot of them. I myself needed many 9cm pots and by just checking what I and my mother have saved I got over 50 with a majotity of them coming from Teka. Maybe the city (city hall) ("park divison") also is a source especially the cities without their own sowing of plants. Less waste for the city and less transport and less oil needed for new pots.
Regarding garden centers every one like to do a bargain but people might need to look at the long run what happens if one is not supporting the growers. Will it leed to just the limited standard offers in all places. Some "fair trade certifiation" for plants? They have started with that for roses so why not for more plants.
Kind regards from Portugal with mostly round pots
Joakim
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having worked in a couple of garden/lifestyle centres I know what they get up to. When we have rubbish weather like this and the grower cant sell his/her bedding plants the garden/lifestyle centre will offer a ridiculous amount to buy the stock. Does this then give the public a bargain? No, the price stays the same. In the next few weeks £1000s of bedding will be dumped by garden centres. I suggested that every customer gets a few instead of skippng them. The answer was no
Name and shame :
The mark-up on plants in garden centres is around 100% +VAT. In some places it's more. I know, I used to be an alpine grower until I successfully came through rehab. The wholesalers I dealt with were even more ruthless (if you don’t believe me ask Ian Christie) with the exception of a company called Growforth – they at least tried to be fair to their growers. Plant wholesale, unless done on an industrial scale and limited to varieties that can be propagated and turned over in 6 to 8 weeks in a weed free enclosed environment, is the road to hell. Were I ever stupid enough to do this again I would stick to a dozen easy, fast growing varieties. No one except a few eccentrics in organisations like the SRGC are interested in rare plants any more.
If you must grow plants for sale, keep it small scale and sell them direct to the public if you can. Do not break your back lining the pockets of shareholders in garden centre chains. With the exception of Glendoick – run by plant people and who were a good and fair customer of ours - they are a waste of space.
The 9cm alpine you just bought at D***** for £1.60 or thereabouts probably earned the grower a magnificent 40 to 60 pence.
Support small growers! ;)
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Getting back out of rant mode and back to pots: ;)
I have thousands of brand new, unused 7x7x7 cm square plastic, semi-rigid pots. The make is Desch
Anyone interested in these (any quantity) please PM me
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try 300% mark up + VAT or at our daily meetings the boss would ask "do you think customers would pay an extra £2 for this?" Mid Ulster Garden Centre
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Here are two adresses from Germany for pots and other things:
http://www.goetzpflanzenzubehoer.de/
http://www.kakteen-schwarz.de/
They send also in other countries .
I hope this help
Hans
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It constantly amazes me that at my local Garden (and Leisure!!) Centre I can buy expensive pairs of shoes, vases of all kinds, Polar Fleeces in all colours of the rainbow and the poorest chicken curry on God's earth, but a reasonable quality square plastic pot-no chance :(
Sadly, most garden centres have little to do with gardening anymore. There is not enough money in it. – think of the poor growers though! All those around here are lifestyle centres that sit in better with the UK's greed culture.
Decking anyone? ;)
I rarely buy plants from Garden Centres these days apart from those on the seasonal "cheapy stands". These are usually plants just "going over" and a rarely need to pay more than £1 and normally much less. Having said that I travel miles to use small nurseries operated by specialist growers who know their stuff and you get a first class plant and as much growing advice as you want. Unfortunately the average gardener doesn't have either the time or inclination to look outside the garden centres which plays right into their hands. I went to one nursery a few months and bought a few plants and spent the next couple of hours helping to pot on a batch of rooted cuttings and talking gardening. Wonderful!
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Admins et alia,
Re garden centres - one here in Ireland, which has been adjudged the best in Ireland for the past number of years, has, at least, had the honesty to state in large print outside their premises that it is a "Lifestyle and Garden Centre". At least, people can see where they have placed their emphasis and not expect to find the unusual plant of one's desire there. Good for coffee and cake however. By the way, the president of our local garden club at a meeting recently described another similar garden centre as one of the best in the country because they did a lovely scone and cup of tea.
Now, I must take you to task somewhat. You really are very fortunate with the range and selection of plant outlets available to you. Things have reached such a low ebb here that we look up the UK based companies on the internet and order our plants by mail order or wait until we travel across, search around and purchase then.
Of course, there is a good side to this as it "encourages" one to grow from seed.
Don't give up hope, join the SRGC, get the seeds and grow away.
Paddy
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yes those on the 'mainland' are spoilt for choice and that's why the Northern three, just as the Cork two do, take every oportunity to go plant hunting while in England. Back in June I went way out of way in the wrong direction to go to Beeches Nursery near Safron Waldren. I'll be in England again four weeks tomorrow and my travelling companion, no names, is planning on bringing a small empty suitcase because we are going to two of the best - Beeches again and Glen Chantry.
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You really are very fortunate with the range and selection of plant outlets available to you.
Paddy, welcome to the culture of devil take the hindmost, unshackled self interest and greed. Ireland I believe is a recent recruit – we in the UK have been there for decades. All in the UK nursery garden is not rosy. Some of our best and most famous Scottish nurseries – Jack Drakes for example are now shadows of their former selves. Resplendent with tea rooms. Even Glendoick has a restaurant and has had for years. If they don’t have one the punters don’t come. Fact is that the vast majority of the public are not gardeners and this is an ever growing majority with more and more gardens front and back being concerted over to make space for anther car or to add another room to the house – sorry the "investment". There was an item on Radio 4 last week about just this! Lovers of rare plants are a dwindling minority within the older, often tweed and twinset, middle classes – I would bet my bottom dollar that the average age of SRGC and AGS members is a good deal higher than it was 20 years ago. This is something that has to be addressed if we are not to go the way of the dinosaur. These associations should be supporting small nurseries in their own long term interest – I bet Jack Drakes helped recruit more SRCG members than we might care to admit – I was one of them after a chance visit when in Aviemore. These nurseries struggle to survive – believe me I have been there. Being charged £60 or more for a wee table at an SRGC show when total takings might only reach a few hundred quid does not help much. Support your small growers if you have them, they might not be there in a few years if you don't
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Mark, wish I had Timpany Nursery on my doorstep!
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You really are very fortunate with the range and selection of plant outlets available to you.
Paddy, welcome to the culture of devil take the hindmost, unshackled self interest and greed. Ireland I believe is a recent recruit – we in the UK have been there for decades. All in the UK nursery garden is not rosy. Some of our best and most famous Scottish nurseries – Jack Drakes for example are now shadows of their former selves. Resplendent with tea rooms. Even Glendoick has a restaurant and has had for years. If they don’t have one the punters don’t come. Fact is that the vast majority of the public are not gardeners and this is an ever growing majority with more and more gardens front and back being concerted over to make space for anther car or to add another room to the house – sorry the "investment". There was an item on Radio 4 last week about just this! Lovers of rare plants are a dwindling minority within the older, often tweed and twinset, middle classes – I would bet my bottom dollar that the average age of SRGC and AGS members is a good deal higher than it was 20 years ago. This is something that has to be addressed if we are not to go the way of the dinosaur. These associations should be supporting small nurseries in their own long term interest – I bet Jack Drakes helped recruit more SRCG members than we might care to admit – I was one of them after a chance visit when in Aviemore. These nurseries struggle to survive – believe me I have been there. Being charged £60 or more for a wee table at an SRGC show when total takings might only reach a few hundred quid does not help much. Support your small growers if you have them, they might not be there in a few years if you don't
Fred, I wholeheartedly agree with you. It does seem to me that organisations such as SRGC and AGS should be doing all they can to support and sustain small specialist growers whilst we have them. For me there are two main aspects of Show going; the prospect of seeing well grown plants of a quality I might aspire to, and being able to browse the stalls of small specialist nurseries. At £60 a throw for a stand, and possibly more in some places I wonder that they bother going at all. Why not charge more for Show entrance and give the Nurseries a free run. I always pay a visit to a small nursery in Gloucestershire when I am in the area and on my last visit the proprietor told me he was scaling down his alpine plant range as "very few want them these days"!
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Mark, wish I had Timpany Nursery on my doorstep!
Me too. Susan has some superb plants!
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Why not charge more for Show entrance and give the Nurseries a free run.
Well, for a start, the number of paying visitors to the shows is dropping... remember that Members enter Free.....charges for show halls, table hire etc are escalating.... this is a very tricky situation for show organisers, believe me!
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Why not charge more for Show entrance and give the Nurseries a free run.
Well, for a start, the number of paying visitors to the shows is dropping... remember that Members enter Free.....charges for show halls, table hire etc are escalating.... this is a very tricky situation for show organisers, believe me!
Absolutely no doubt about that at all Maggie. You, Ian and other show secs. have a difficult, unenviable task and still do a great job for which we are all indebted to you. It seems the pressure is on everyone. Perhaps members would pay a pound or two to get in – surely very few would complain about that? I know it's kinda like robbing Peter to pay Paul – I certainly would not object anyway – or put it another way – of all the factors that affect my own decisions to attend a show (and I know I have not been at many shows lately) paying a few quid to get in would not be a big one. When I used to help out with club plant sales in the pre- 50:50 days at Aberdeen we used to take in shed loads of cash, perhaps getting more straight plant donations might help? But this is wandering far from the original thread - "Square Plastic Pots" and is not really the best place to discuss this. Perhaps it could be continued on the "Members only Forum" if anyone is brave enough? It's a bit like the suggestions for the web site – getting some input from the members might be useful. It might cause some disagreement too of course, but that's democracy for you. :)
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Hi all !
My two penny's worth from accross the Channel.
1) I fully agree with the fact that the small specialist alpine nurseries need all the support they can get !
Here in Belgium we've only got one or two and they do have the same problems as their UK collegues.
In the Spring, they are attending all the major "shows" and "sales" that take place in Germany, just to
extend their public so they can keep things going.
2) I've visited only some 3 or 4 (for reasons of distance, AGS) shows over the years (whish I could attend
more :'() and I wouldn't mind having to pay 1 or 2 £ entrance fee, even as a member, if this benifits
the small specialist grower.
After all, we're getting so much already from our memberships in both the SRGC and the AGS for so
little money !
This definitely has nothing to do with square plastic pots as Mr Admin mentions, but this is a very important subject of discussion I believe. It all comes down to simple mathematics :
less specialist nurseries = less choice alpines in my garden
less shows = less pleasure in visiting them
We can't miss either !
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it's not just alpine specialists that are having a hard time
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Is not the links a good way to support the good growers for free?
I hope that helps the growers. I do not know how much it is used? (or if it will come any buisness out of that but it is a contribution.
Maybe the plant stalls would pay with plants for a huge lottery/raffel as an alternative to cashpayment. This would be for the small plant stalls rather than huge ones if there is any.
Maybe this later part of the thread should be lifted to the members section as has been suggested. Wink wink :) 8)
By the way general "garden interest" is growing in Sweden but maybe more the garden center style of gardening.
Take care
Joakim