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The pot-in-pot method of growing uses a production pot inside another pot which is in ground. This allows you to swap pots easily, and some 20 good reasons why this might be a good idea are listed here.

One other reason I came across was that if you had one production pot sitting on say 4 inches of soil in the ground pot, the latter would reduce perching of water in the production pot improving the aeration of the roots.

I can see this being useful for me as plants wouldn't get blown over in the wind, and watering would be easier if I had frost tender plants in the garden with the rest of the plants. And then I can pull them out for over wintering inside the house, and replace with a winter plant.

So, are there any particular characteristics of the pots that are needed for this to work? Obviously both pots need to drain, be light weight, durable, and you need a light growing medium. Anything else?

tree nursery using pot-in-pot method

Graham Chiu
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This technique is used by commercial growers for tree and shrub production

  • the pots you use should be identical and readily available in bulk quantities
  • sandy soil is probably not the best if you are growing trees as it will shift in high winds
  • ready access to water. Plant material using this method can dry out faster and a drip or bubbler irrigation system is commonly used in the summer
kevinskio
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The overwhelming reason for pot-in-pot is to lower root temperatures in commercial nurseries. Black pots adsorb a lot of solar energy (i.e., they look black because that adsorb light rather than reflect it). Near the pot wall the soil temperature of a pot sitting out in the sun can easily exceed 95F, the temperature at which root growth has stopped and 115F where roots die.