Terracotta plant pots are notorious for getting a crusty white residue on them over time. It looks bad but don’t worry, cleaning clay pots is quick and easy. In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to clean terracotta pots in 3 simple steps!
Check this out, I recently got a bunch of free clay pots from a nice lady on Craigslist. There were about 25 various sized terracotta plant pots in total – awesome score, right?!
The clay pots are very old, and they looked nasty, but I could see the beauty that lies beneath all that crusted on grime.
So I went right to work to clean them, and return them to their former glory! Once I’m done, they will look brand new, and be ready for potting up my plants!
Below I’m going to talk about what that nasty white residue is, and why you should get rid of it. Then I will show you the 3 easy steps I use to clean terracotta pots.
Before cleaning crusty old clay pots
What Is The White Residue On Terracotta Pots Anyway?
One of the advantages of using terracotta pots is that they absorb water from the soil, and help prevent over-watering your plants (I use them to grow all of my succulents and cactus plants).
But, terracotta pots also absorb fertilizers, as well as salts and other chemicals that are commonly found in tap water.
Over time, these salts and chemicals will build up and create a crusty or chalky white residue on your beautiful clay pots.
To help prevent this, I recommend using rainwater to water your plants rather than tap water. Also, skip the chemical fertilizers and use an organic fertilizer instead, or try an organic compost solution.
Using rainwater and organic fertilizers is much healthier for your plants anyway (and better for the environment too. Win, win!), and will help to keep your beautiful terracotta pots clean much longer!
White residue on terracotta pots
Why Should You Clean Terracotta Pots?
Some people really like the look of crusty old terracotta pots, and don’t want to clean them. Unfortunately, using dirty pots over and over again can be very unhealthy for your plants.
Dirty pots can harbor pests and diseases, which is definitely not something you want. Cleaning and disinfecting plant pots is a habit you should get into no matter what type they are.
If you’re wondering how to clean clay pots with plants in them, well… if a plant has been growing in the same terracotta pot for so long that the pot has buildup on it, then it’s time to repot that plant and give it some fresh soil anyway.
So take this opportunity to repot your neglected plants, and clean their pots too.
Oh, and if you like the look of crusty terracotta plant pots, then you can paint them to look that way, and still have clean pots. Learn all about painting terracotta pots here.
Alright, off my soapbox. Let’s get busy cleaning some terracotta pots!
Crusty residue on old terracotta pot
How To Clean Terracotta Pots
You don’t need many things for this, which is nice. And you probably already have all of this stuff already. Here’s what you’ll need..
Supplies Needed:
- Pot brush
- White vinegar
- Utility tub (for large terracotta planters) or a bucket or sink (for smaller pots)
- Dishwasher (optional)
Step 1: Remove any loose dirt from the pot. Use your pot brush to clean as much dirt as you can off of the clay pot. In my case, I also needed to brush cobwebs and other debris off my pots (yuck!).
You don’t need to be super fussy here, cause you don’t need to get all the dirt off. Just brush off the loose dirt, and any large chunks of soil that might be stuck to the pot. The rest will come off in the next steps.
Remove loose dirt from terracotta pot
Step 2: Soak clay pots in vinegar/water solution.
Ideally, you would use 1 cup of white vinegar (5% acidity) for every 3-4 cups of water. The less vinegar you use in the water, the longer you’ll need to soak the pots.
Completely submerge the clay pots in the solution. You may hear a sizzling sounds or see bubbles.
Don’t worry, that’s a combination of the vinegar doing it’s job at dissolving the crusty buildup, and the clay pot absorbing the water.
I start by soaking crusty clay pots for 20-30 minutes. If the buildup wipes or scrubs off easily, they’re done.
Otherwise, I’ll soak the pots longer. Keep checking until all the residue is easy to remove. You may need to use your pot brush to scrub some of the residue off.
Soaking terracotta pots in a vinegar and water solution
For really tough crusty buildup, you can soak the pot in pure vinegar (in the photo below, I’m just soaking the rim of the pot where the crusty buildup is the worst).
If you soak the entire clay pot in vinegar, you should soak it in water afterward to dilute the vinegar the pot absorbed.
Soaking terracotta pot in vinegar to remove tough buildup
Step 3: Run pots through the dishwasher. As a last step, I run the terracotta pots through the quick wash cycle on my dishwasher.
This will help to disinfect the pots and clean them.
If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can use a little extra elbow grease and scrub the pots in soapy water.
That’s it, you’re done! See, I told you it was easy.
As for those dirty, crusty old clay pots I got for free. Well, here’s what they look like after I finished cleaning them…
Clean and shiny terracotta pots look brand new
WOW! Can you believe these are the same terracotta pots?
Seriously, it took about 30 minutes of my time (not counting the time I let the pots soak, and the time it took for the dishwasher to run) to clean these pots.
I’m pretty sure it’s been several years since these pots have been cleaned (if ever). And now I have what look like brand new terracotta pots (for free!).
Totally worth it!
How To Clean Large Terracotta Pots
If you have large terracotta garden pots that are too big to submerge in a utility tub, bucket or sink, don’t worry! You can still use this method. Simply soak 1/2 of the planter at a time.
Once you’ve cleaned off all the crusty residue (steps 1-2) on the first half, then flip it over and do the same thing to the other half.
Obviously you won’t be able to run large clay pots through the dishwasher, but that’s ok. You can just wash them with soapy water instead.
Terracotta pots have a timeless beauty, and can last for many years if given some TLC once and a while. The good news is, it doesn’t take much time to give new life to your crusty old clay pots.
Now you can shop yard sales and thrift shops to find cheap terracotta flower pots (or maybe you’ll find a bunch for free like I did!), and then clean them up like new!
Why buy terracotta pots brand new when you can save yourself tons of money with just a little time and elbow grease by cleaning old ones!
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Share your tips for cleaning terracotta pots in the comments section below!
Sandy Perry says
Thank you for your reply about the barley straw. The bowls on my cascading fountain are about the size of a cereal bowl so the straw itself really isn’t practical. We have moved the fountain in for the winter but I am intrigued with the liquid form of barley straw which seems to be a better option for us.
Thank you for taking the time to reply!
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome, and good luck cleaning your terracotta fountain, hope the liquid barley straw will help.
Sandy Perry says
I have a cascading fountain made up of small terra cotta bowls with lips.
Is your vinegar procedure good for this? Over the summer, some algae and even some mold collected at the bottoms of a couple of them.
Amy Andrychowicz says
I have never tried using this method for cleaning terracotta pots in a fountain before, so I can’t say for sure. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to give it a try, since you don’t have any plants or fish in there. You might also want to try using barley straw in your fountain to kill the algae. Here’s how I use it to clear my pond water, so I would expect that it would work just as well on a water feature.
Linda says
Great article. I need to clean 2 or 3 of my pots. When my flowers die this winter I will empty the soil ‘ do it. I live in FL so my flowers last year round.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Sounds like a good plan. I use terracotta pots for many of my houseplants, so mine stay in there for several years too. I always clean the pots whenever I repot a plant. It’s great timing.
Anna says
Hi,
Thanks for the vinegar tip for the crusty white on my terracotta pots.
I have a couple of terracotta pots on my balcony that are starting to disintegrate on the outside. It’s slowly flaking off bits of the pot. Do you know if there is anything I can do to stop this?
Many thanks
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome! I’m not sure if there’s much you can do to stop the terracotta pots from decaying. You could try painting them or putting on a layer of sealant, and that might help to preserve them longer. However, you’d have to take the plants out and clean the pots before you could do that. Here’s a tutorial about how to paint them, if you’re interested in giving that a try.
~mb says
I have a few terra cotta clay items that are showing the same flaking and disintegration. I live in zone 5/6 and leave them out in the elements year round, snow and all. I could probably have prevented this if I had stored them in the garage over the winter. They also happen to be on a shady, north facing porch that tends to be a moist spot… I am sure that has contributed.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, all very good points! I put my terracotta pots into the garage over winter too, which definitely helps them last longer. I’ve had pots break in the winter before, and that’s not fun!
Pat says
Thank you for this information. Regarding putting the terra cotta pots in the dishwasher, should I use the heat cycle or will that ruin the pot?
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome. Yes, you can use the heat setting to clean terracotta pots, it won’t hurt them (as long as the pots aren’t cold before you put them into the dishwasher).
Alina Kiebxak says
Thank you for your information I did not know any of this.. I have some planters that needs to be clean and have flowers planted, can I clean the outside of the planters without removing the flowers?
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome. Yes, you can clean the outsides of your terracotta pots without removing the plants. I just scrub them with a cleaning brush and soapy water. That won’t remove the caked on buildup, but will clean off the dirt and other gunk. Don’t use vinegar though, because that could kill the plants.
Eugenia Pappas says
I have 3 HUGE unglazed terra-cotta fruits that I put out in my flower bed on top of mulch. I love them, but they have gotten black all over them. At first I thought it might be mud. I’ve tried hosing them down and scrubbing with a brush but nothing comes off. The stains do not appear to have a texture (fuzzy).
They are so heavy my very strong neighbor gets them out for me every year so I can’t soak them. Any suggestions?
Amy Andrychowicz says
Your terracotta fruits sound really cool! I would try spraying them with 100% vinegar, saturating them with it, and allow it to sit for a little bit. Then I’d scrub them with a thick brush and soapy water. Rinse and repeat until clean. Hope that works!
Melissa says
Hi-Thanks for this post! I left one of my pots in the vinegar solution overnight. I’ll soak in water this am but I’m wondering if I should be concerned that the pot absorbed too much vinegar and could cause problems with whatever I plant in it?
Amy Andrychowicz says
I would soak the pot in water, just as you plan to do. That should be enough to flush out any vinegar that was absorbed into the terracotta overnight.