The first question: a drainage hole, or watertight?
The most common planter dispute is not a defect in the usual sense. An outdoor planter needs a drainage hole, or plants drown and water freezes in the base. A cover pot for indoor use, the kind that holds a plastic grower pot, must not leak onto a floor or shelf. Factories make both, sometimes in the same shape, and a missing word in the order decides which one arrives.
So the inspection starts with the use stated in your order, and checks it for every style: hole present and the right size, or body and seams watertight. Pots sold for both uses often have a knock-out hole, which should stay closed in transit but open cleanly.
This page covers planters across materials, plus plant stands and hanging planters. Unglazed and glazed clay pots have their own page: terracotta and glazed planters.
What we check on planters and plant stands
| Check | How it is checked | What fails |
|---|---|---|
| Drainage | Hole count, size and position measured against the drawing | No hole, hole too small, hole off-centre so the pot rocks on its rim |
| Watertightness | Indoor pots filled with water and left on dry paper for the time in your specification | Damp paper, drips at a seam or base |
| Nested sets | Each size measured; sets nested and unnested by hand | A size outside tolerance, pieces that jam, a size missing from a set |
| Saucers and liners | Saucer and liner fitted to each sampled pot | Saucer too small for the base, liner that does not sit flat |
| Plant stand load | Each tier loaded with the weight in your specification and left for the agreed time | Tier bends, weld cracks, shelf slips |
| Plant stand stability | Stand placed on a flat surface; pushed at the top tier when loaded | Rocking legs, stand tips when pushed |
| Hanging planters | Chain, rope and hook load-tested with a weight; links and knots inspected | Open chain links, slipping knots, hook that bends |
Metal planters
Metal planters, mostly from metalware workshops such as those in Moradabad, add their own risks:
- Cut edges of galvanised sheet. Pre-galvanised sheet is cut and folded after coating, so cut edges and fold lines have less zinc. They rust first, often inside the rim where it is not seen at a glance.
- Seams. Folded or welded seams are leak-tested on indoor planters. Welds on outdoor planters are checked for rust and coating cover.
- Inner finish. Indoor metal planters need an inner lacquer or liner, or the first watering marks the metal.
- Finish match. Copper, brass, zinc and antique finishes are compared with reference pieces in daylight; these finishes vary more than paint between batches.
- Feet and stands. Welds on feet and legs are pressed by hand, and planters are checked for rocking.
- Dents. Thin sheet planters in nested sets dent where one presses on the next.
For coatings on outdoor structures, see metal garden décor.
Common planter, pot and plant stand defects and how they are classed
| Defect | Class |
|---|---|
| Plant stand tips when loaded and pushed | Critical |
| Hanging planter hook or chain fails under the test load | Critical |
| Drainage hole missing where ordered, or present where watertight was ordered | Major |
| Leak at a seam on an indoor planter | Major |
| Nested set incomplete or jammed | Major |
| Rust on cut edges or welds | Major |
| Finish outside the reference range | Major |
| Small dent or scratch from nesting | Minor |
Rules that apply
- General safety. Plant stands and hanging planters can fall; the EU GPSR covers this, with traceability details on product or packaging.
- Finishes. Lead in paint, lacquer or brass can trigger Prop 65 warnings in California.
- Wooden planters. Depending on their HS heading, wooden planters can fall within the EUDR. Check the heading against Annex I of the regulation. US imports of wood products may need a Lacey Act declaration.
- Crates. Wooden crates and pallets need ISPM 15.
Packing nested sets and your purchase order
A nested set is its own packing: the small pot sits in the medium, the medium in the large. That saves space but puts every pot in contact with the next. The inspector checks for paper or foam separators between sizes, that the set can be unnested without force, and that the carton's marked gross weight matches the real weight, since heavy sets are often packed in cartons too weak for them. A sampled carton is dropped and opened. Inside the container, heavy sets go low; loading supervision checks the stow.
- Use for each style: outdoor with a drainage hole (size and number), or indoor and watertight.
- Sizes and tolerances for every pot in a set; which sizes make a set.
- Saucer and liner requirements.
- Plant stand load per tier and hold time; hanging planter test load.
- For metal: galvanising or coating, inner lacquer, and reference finish pieces.
- Separators, carton grade and weight marking.
Book an inspection, or see pricing.