The leading advantage to growing your plants in CowPots is the improved root health. Root penetration through the pot walls prevent your plant from becoming root bound and enhance air pruning. Growing a strong root system encourages a healthy plant. When it’s time to transplant, you put the entire pot, intact in the ground. No ripping or tearing so that there is minimal disturbance to the roots. CowPots are designed to break down in the ground in a single growing season, unlike competing biodegradable pots.

If you were wondering why COW pots? It’s because the cow gives us the raw material to form all of our pots. We use manure, the byproduct from the dairy cows on this farm. All of the manure to make CowPots is digested and composted. We also blend in recycled newspaper and cardboard which we source from our community as part of our commitment to sustainability. From the beginning, it has been our priority to make a sustainable alternative to plastic and peat pots that uses renewable and recycled ingredients. 

Visit CowPots product specification page to see a condensed description of each of the 15 styles of CowPots and their suggested growing applications as plant pots.

CowPots do not require a specific type of potting soil. Make sure you fill your plant pots with good quality,sterilepotting soil for seed starting.

As a biodegradable planter, CowPots will begin to break down within weeks of transplanting. As long as they are completely buried at planting, they should be almost completely decomposed by the end of the growing season. The rate of decomposition depends largely on moisture and bioactivity in your soil.  

The CowPot walls are porous (we don’t use any waxes or coatings) and will soak up the moisture when you bottom water. The pot will turn darker brown when wet and light brown when dry. Bottom watering can work well with CowPots as long as the exterior of the pot is permitted to dry in between waterings. Not only does this reduce mold growth but it also ensures that your pot will stay structurally intact for the recommended growing time. 

Factors that affect decomposition can include soil type, soil bioactivity and water rates. Sandy soils and soils with few microorganisms typically display slower rates of decomposition in CowPots. Roots can still grow through the biodegradable pot walls even if they do not rapidly decompose.

With some variation depending on size, once planted, optimal growing time in CowPots before transplanting is 12 weeks.  This can vary based on watering practices. After that time, pot walls may become weak.