These planters a little smaller than I thought they would be, so I'm going to break one of the plants I'd originally planned to go in them in half. The listing says that they hanging baskets are 8.3 inch and they are… But with the inserts the actual usable space is actually 5.6 inches. One of the product listing pictures does say that, but I am tempted to ding them for it because that's not the measurement they're trying to get you to see for the price. However, the kit itself is very nice for the money, and that goes a long way toward making me less salty. The plastic material of both the shell and the inner liner is sturdy. The amount of drainage holes in the liner is fantastic. The chains seem to be well made. And the length of the self-watering ropes are good. I appreciate that the kit came with clay pebbles and some soil. It doesn't look like much for two pots, but once you get a plant with a lot of it's existing soil in it, it's plenty. The whole thing looks very nice, though I do wish the outer shell was just a liiiiitle more opaque or that the inner liner was a darker color so you didn't see it as much.
The only thing that really got to me with these is the lack of instructions. This isn't my first rodeo, so I slapped everything together no problem. But if you've never used a pot like this before, you're going to be lost. I've had a backscratcher come with instructions; it's kind of unacceptable that this didn't. For those of you that need them:
* Chains: I promise the head of each strand fits through the hole and won't come back out. It's like those "shoestring" gift bags. You put the eyelet (thing on the end of the chain) through sideways, wiggling it around as necessary. Then once it's through, you turn it back parallel to the pot and it will not come back out.
* Rope: There are two slightly larger holes in the bottom of the liner pot. From the INSIDE thread the ends of the rope (one per basket) through those holes. Leave some room between the rope and the bottom, and make sure some soil shimmies under there when you're doing the planting thing. Don't loop it up too big, though, because you want the ends of the rope to get down into the water that collects in the bottom of the exterior pot. That's how it feeds the plant.
On the whole I would personally purchase these again. But the lack of instructions for someone who didn't already know what they were doing might be a deal-breaker.
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