How to make upside down planters from recycled materials

Festival seasons are in and you always look to decorate your house for festivals. But the expenses incurred in buying new items are always high. So you can use this festive period to make some creative as well as beautiful things for your house. Yes that too at a very low price and from things that you are throwing out as waste.

You can make an upside down planter from recycled materials. This planter can be made from leftover cans from the various food items. If these cans are with plastic lids that could be even great or else use plastic cold drink bottles. You won’t believe how these waste things turn out to be a beautiful planter that will adorn your décor.

Difficulty Level: Moderate: (Requires basic knowledge)

Time required: 2-3 hours

Resources required

1. Tin cans with plastic re-sealable lid/plastic liter soda bottles

2. Fabric pieces

3. A wire hanger

4. An exacto knife and Scissors

5. Can opener

6. Hair dryer

7. Plants

8. Spray adhesive or glue

9. Duct tape

10. Potting soil

11. Drill

12. Landscape fabric scraps/ Coffee filters

13. Pliers and Wire cutters

Estimated cost

Soil/plants: $10

Duct tape: $5

Containers: free, on hand

Instructions

For can planter:

1. Wash and clean the can once you are done with the peeling off the labels in the can.

2. Remove the can’s bottom using a can opener.

3. Now make holes in the disc that you removed from the can’s bottom. Make holes with a drill or a nail and hammer, whichever is convenient for you. Now flatten the pop ups from the holes with a hammer for safety purposes.

4. Make two additional holes in the can’s sides, which should be about ¼ inch from the bottom and at an equal distance from each other as well as at the opposite sides of the can. Use these holes to hang the planter.

5. Now attach the bottom to the can at a position of one inch lower than where it was originally placed with duct tapes.

6. Now turn over the can over and add some soil in it. Place the plant and fill it with soil till the top firmly such that that the soil becomes tight.

7. Outline the can’s bottom on a landscape fabric or a coffee filter. Cut the circle and fold it in half. Now make a small hole in the center. Ensure this hole is the diameter of the plants main stem.

8. Slide the circle around the plant’s stem and then the remaining on top of the can. This will avoid the soil from falling out if the planter is turned over.

9. Now outline a circular thing which has a diameter of around 2 inch in the middle of the lid of the can. Cut out this circle making use of an exacto knife.

10. Tenderly move the plant all the way through this hole and slide the lid to the can’s rim carefully pulling the leaves through the hole. Now tightly close the can with the lid and put duct tape around it. This will seal the link in between the can and lid.

11. Now to wrap the can’s circumference cut a piece of fabric with additional ¼ inch overlap. Ensure to make the fabric bit longer may be a 1/2 inch than the can’s height.

12. Spray some adhesive to the internal part of the fabric and neatly wrap it round the planter. Starting with the bottom of the planter hide all the duct tapes and fold the extra ¼ inch fabric into the recessed portion over the top lid of the planter, which is now the bottom. Add extra glue to keep it stuck.

13. Cut a 5 inch of wire and twist the two ends into small u-hooks. Bend them wire into a C-shape and hook them through the hanger holes. Now you have created a handle for hanging the planter.

Frequently asked questions

How to make a planter with a plastic cold drink bottle?
Most of the steps remain the same just use a plastic bottle instead of the can. Cut the mouth of the bottle which is 2 to 3 inch in diameter. Also cut the bottom near the label line. But you can use the bottom of the bottle as a cap. Rest all steps will be the same. All you need is to be creative enough to make it look beautiful enough to match the décor of your house

Quick tips

Use herbs in the planter as they work well. Use tomato plants or some flower plants.

Things to watch out for

Once you have wrapped the can with the fabric you will have to locate the hanger holes using your fingers as they get wrapped up in the fabric too. Now poke a needle into the fabric to reopen the holes.

Hang the upside down planters in a place where you receive ample light. The best thing about the planter is that it can be easily relocated if they are getting too much or less sunlight.