adding water also cools the drill site so you are less likely to break the pot whether you drill from the inside or the outside

Here is how DH drilled ceramic containers for me. First he chipped the glaze, then drilled with a carbide drill bit. Some he had to use water with, some he didn't.
Where we ran into problems was with the the very strong porcelain type containers. Couldn't even make a dent in them.
Here are a couple he did for me. The blue one was a ceramic ring box, the other looked to be for plants, but had no drain holes.


Something else that works great to cover the drain hole is landscape fabric, folded paper towel. So many things that we have around the house that can be used. : )

Making up words as needed is perfectly acceptable as far as I'm concerned!

I'm adopting that new word, I like it. Hole-less. Rolls off the tongue nicely.

I drill holes in plastic pots all the time, the more drainage the better but I've never tried drilling a ceramic or terra cotta pot ... I know I'd break them!

Funny ... I used to find hole-less containers all the time and loved it because I like to use pretty containers as cache pots to hide the ugly plastic ones. I have a lot of plants indoors and don't want water running out all over everywhere when I water so the hole-less type containers work great for that purpose!

Years ago I used coffee filters and then switched to window screening which I used for a long time in the bottom of containers. Now I'm back to coffee filters because with the screen I've found that when I go to re-pot the root bound plant to a larger container, the roots are tangled and growing into the screen and I have to cut or rip them away. Poor plants, maybe I shouldn't wait so long to repot.

sTART WITH A SMALLER DRILL THEN WORK YOUR WAY UP TWO OR THREE TIMES
sharp bits cut nicely
oh.. be sure the bottom of the pot/conntainer doesn't seal to the surface it's placed on... my rubber roof membrane ..... a smooth counter or a glass shelf can form a seal and not allow quick and complete water drainage
the best place to remove this effect is for the holes to be in the side @ the bottom..

Wow, great point Gordon. I hadn't thought about that.

I use a small hand tool like a multi grinder with attachments to do the drilling of my plastic pots because it is nice for many projects like grinding my service dogs nails, drilling holes in pots, etc; and it is compact, light, and easy for me to handle. I didn't get the well know brand name of this kind of toll which is called a Dremel or milti tool grinder. I got a veritable speed tool from Sears which seems to do many tasks and is an excellent tool for drilling because it uses different attachments and bits.

I've ben trying to save my clivias which was mostly roots in a pot with no soil, so I decided to repot it. before doing this I drilled holes around the sides near the bottom of the plastic pot, and more higher but not quite as many until I got a little above the halfway point. I did this because my understanding of this plant is they like air flow around the roots similar to orchids. These holes were rather small so the soil isn't running through the holes, but air can get into the pot from different levels.

I still hope the Clivia x2 will survive. I have no idea why the leaves are going from their nice normal green color to yellow and then dried brown. Any ideas?

Dogpack, great idea for another way to make holes in containers.

What was the original container like, the one they were originally growing in? If they were happy in that environment I would stay with that type of container for them.
Sounds like they went through some transplant shock, or maybe it is the resting season for it?

Read the comment section in this link: Clivias (Clivia)
I don't know very much about this plant, but here is a site that has some information http://www.americancliviasocie...

DH bought different size bits for tile and ceramic. Good thing he asked a young man at Lowe's or he would have tried the wrong drill bits. He filled a spray bottle with water and when he started drilling he would spray now and then. Did a great job so when I see a great ceremic pot at the thrift store I'm not afraid to ask him to drill holes in it for me. He did drill from the bottom. I now have several pots ready for planting.

I confess I speedread this and hope my answer isnt duplicated.
Is it ceramic? Just knock on the side of the pot,if it has a ringing sound it is ceramic.Fiberglas or composition pots will make a thud.
I use a ceramic drillbit and drill from the outside.I always get a sort of bunch a scraps because I dont use water but probably should.
I only bought ceramic once because we dont have storage room in the garage over winter otherwise I would have more ceramic pieces.

valleylynn, thank you for the information. So far the clivia seem to be doing better. They apparently are survivors because they went through a lot of changes. I tried to be very careful but still broke roots, had to separate the plants because they were jammed together like sardines, and managed to fumble and take a long time in the transplanting process. I think what happened was they were over watered accidentally and I didn't realize how wet the soil was until the poor plants were about to drown and give up life. Fortunately, I was able to get them into drier soil and new pots before it was too late.

One part of the transplanting process I enjoyed was drilling holes in the bottom of the pots for extra drainage and also along the sides for better air circulation around the roots..

Good job dogpack. Can't wait to see a photo of them in their new home.