Building Your Own Hypertufa Planters

Hypertufas are synthetic rocks that are made up of numerous aggregates that is put together together using Portland cement. It’s appearance is inspired by tufa, a porous rock composed of calcium carbonate. Considering they are light and porous, they are very good for plant growth; hence hypertufas are frequently constructed as garden ornaments. They're also durable and are able to tolerate overwhelming winter conditions, which makes them more favorable than concrete.

One of the most common forms of hypertufa is a planter, since you can come up with durable decorative pots with these. You also only need simple molds for a hypertufa planter so most first-timers are recommended to create them first. For planter molds, you can utilize cardboard or wooden boxes, buckets, pots, styrofoam ice chests, plastics or metal containers and other things that has a shape that can hold plants. Just make sure to add releasing agents to your molds, such as garbage bags, plastics, and oil lubricants, before putting on the hypertufa mixture to them.

To produce your own hypertufa planter, first you need to prepare your mixture by combining 1 part Portland cement, 1½ parts perlite, and 1½ parts peat moss. Slowly add water while mixing up the ingredients, until you reach a moldable consistency. Then using a trowel, transfer your mixture to the mold of the planter that you prepared. Pound the mixture in the mold so that it is stuffed, ensuring its toughness. Also, because you are going to put plants in what you are making, keep in mind to put drainage holes at the bottom by sticking dowels or branches. Make sure that the mixture does not leak back into the opening that you made.

Soon after filling up your mold, protect it up with a trash bag and allow it to sit for about 1 to 3 days, based on the size of your planter. As soon as it is hard enough that you cannot make an indentation with your finger, you may now remove the mold off your hypertufa. You can also put added touches to your planter by sculpting using wire brush. Return it to the trash bag and let it sit once more for over three weeks, occasionally misting it. When it already makes a hollow knock when you tap it, your hypertufa planter is already totally cured and dried.

Remember that your hypertufa planter has a lot of lime in it that is harmful to plants. Make use of water and vinegar to leach the lime off the planter for around 10 days just before planting anything into it.