I have faith these are going to be successful Jean!

I made them about noon. Just went out to "feel" them & was thrilled to find them stiff & hard. Perhaps they did indeed work & I have a good recipe for future endeavors. I promised the MGs that work on Thur AM that I'd bring them in this week.

Now to work on making some small Pollinator Hotels. Wonder if we have a thread for those?!?!?!!?!?!

Jean don't forget to keep them damped for the next few days so they cure properly.
Good luck.

with the 100% humidity down here just now, keeping them damp won't be the problem!!!!!
waiting for it to get light out so I can go check them out.

Some people actually submerge in water for a week and then take out to let dry.
Apparently it leaches out some of the chemicals and makes it stronger.
Since I live in a very dry climate that is the way it is suggested here or they keep wrapped in plastic, opening and spraying with water every few days.

Just my two cents worth.

My next novice question. All your pots seem to be light gray. Mine are very dark gray. Bag says 100% Portland cement Type 1. Is there a different type for the light gray?

They are dark gray until the moisture dries out jean.

Thanks David. Guess the 100% humidity is keeping them damp. They do seem a bit lighter in color today.

It has taken a =long= time to work my way through almost 300 messages to catch up. Several times I wanted to comment, but of course couldn't until I worked my way current in the thread.

@DavidofDeLand : David, you are truly an artist! I am so impressed with some of your finished works. Really inspiring, making me wish I had time, energy and $$ for this project. Not anytime soon. But I am saving some of the info as well as a few pics as reference for the future.

So much good information here. Seems to me =SOMEONE= (cough, cough) needs to author an article soon!

Also, @Sharon recently offered some good information re: paints and sealers. @ckatNM provided pictures of her portable stand. There have been other important notes scattered through the thread. This type information needs to be included in the article as well. A multi-author article? Or maybe a main article with additional important info added in as comments?

At any rate, this thread has evolved from something interesting into something really significant. A lot of progress has been made here, thanks to a number of people providing their input.

Of course, the downside of so much input is that someday in the future when I can't resist any longer and just have to get cement on my hands, the sheer size of the thread is daunting. I can't see myself wading through several hundred comments to cherry-pick the important information. I've set up a text file where I can copy/paste nuggets of wisdom re: this project as I find them, but what about all those other people that might want to try their hands at this some time in the future?

So, uh, David? Anyone...?

2...and worse comes to worse, do the text file of copied/pasted "nuggets of wisdom" like you did...

YES

I'll be thinking about that Ron, and thank you for the kind words. I am working on some new concepts now and other artwork that I do, and with the gardens being torn apart now in our entering August in our hot and humid Florida to get ready for the Fall and Winter gardens;... am busy a lot.
I also work for a few others in their gardens.

These pots are hugely valid; durable and have enormous potential. I am playing with a new concept using another material that I think will be even more interesting in the same medium and that will create another look.

I will be sharing these in the next week or so and believe these will be interesting and unique.

Please do try this technique all reading. You can find a style that suits your taste. Spikey isn't for some yet more classic pot shapes can be achieved and all blend into nature beautifully!

Took my 2 planters to show the Plant Sale Committee today. They were a big hit. Many want to try them.
And they are now a lt grew. Some of the more "artistic" types are already thinking of how we can paint them.

I am so glad I found this thread & you all inspired me to try these.

Love hearing that Jean!!!

I like Ron above, took several hours to get through this -- thanks all for posting and sharing. A very wonderful pieces everyone!! I have a couple questions, but who knows when I'll get back:

1) Am I to understand that these containers probably aren't hardy for cold frigid zones?

I think I saw someone post to bring them indoors, and I don't see very many posting from the cold zones. And perhaps it's too early to tell since this thread only started in 2014, and probably here no one has yet left one of their containers outside through winter. I know that when I started making hyper-tufa, directions were to make walls of container at least 1" thick, and greater for larger containers. I really want mine for outside to hold up to zone 5 winters if that's possible.

2) When painting on extra coats, I'm guessing the container is now in the upright condition upon which it will be planted. With the mix being a consistency of batter, does it not tend to want to run off, or down?

Thanks ... hoping to start few small projects soon.

Possibly not to question one.

All things run down due to gravity alone.

Hoosier Harvester!

HH -- I do know this about hypertufa, which is similar but without the cloth drape. The longer you let it go through the curing process (gently spraying water then recovering it with a plastic trash bag) the longer it will last outside. I learned this from a friend who lived all her life in Alaska and she had so many hypertufa pots she just left them outside all the time. So the longer they cure, the stronger and more long lasting they become. She also told me to never work in weather that was cooler than 50*F, it won't setup well at that temp. But if you build them in summer and give them about a month to really cure, they last for years in just any kind of weather. My friend passed in 2008 and her sister moved the hypertufa pots to her own garden. The pots are still there and holding strong in Seward, AK.

I suspect the towel or whatever is used for draping will also make these stronger than just regular hypertufa, but I'd say the process is the same. I also read somewhere that some have added a little wood glue to the water before adding it to the concrete mix -- and this was done in a colder weather zone. Can't remember where, though.

Usually containers crack up north (I am from PA & MD), in the cold, because they fill with water that freezes & expands. So, if these have drainage holes & are out of the elements, I'm thinking they should be OK. I used to store all my terra cotta planters under my deck & they wintered just fine. Ones that got left out, did occasionally crack.

As for the putting on extra layers, I didn't. Just made my mix like cake batter, played with the towel then let is sit for a bit then scrinched it up a bit more & hung it. And I had just a couple drips of the concrete mixture dribble off. Maybe 5 qtr size pieces,

Even in FL I tend to put my nicer planters in my shed over winter so I'm thinking these will also go in. Always better safe than sorry. And these are not nearly as thick walled as hypertuffa.