If you plan to make a lot of concrete planters, you may want a drill and concrete mixer on the end. But if you plan to make a few smaller planters / holders, a simple plastic spoon will do the trick. Residential neighborhoods are increasingly fighting permit applications by concrete batch plants, with some success. And in Houston earlier this year, two years of community organizing and public pressure by residents of the Acres Homes neighborhood stopped a concrete batch plant from being permitted near their homes. One day before an administrative judge was set to hear arguments against the plant, the company withdrew its environmental permit application.

Concrete is very porous but sealing is not required for planters. Use an outdoor paint meant for stucco or cement for the best bond and protection.

The caustic nature of these chemicals will break the lignin down and eventually kill the plants. You might be thinking of using concrete blocks for holding vegetable plants. Yes, but with some type of barrier to prevent chemicals from leaching into the soil. PH affects plant growth by limiting the minerals and nutrients available for the roots to absorb. It can get affected in the soil that is near areas where cement is used in construction.

Read more about mobile concrete batching plant here. Silly me only gave it about 20 minutes drying time, so when I started pouring my concrete, the boarder, which was not completely dried and adhered started to slip. (You’ll see the black tape in the pictures below.) But it was a really big pain, so don’t do what this impatient girl did. If you are looking for plants that are great for pots during winter, you can read about those here. This in-depth article explains the reasons why your concrete pots keep cracking and how to prevent it. Another reason to seal concrete is if you are potting a plant that requires acidic soil. The innate porousness of concrete helps keep plant soil from being over-watered.

Once the concrete is manufactured, it’s poured into a concrete mixer, a mixer pump, or even a carpet truck -depending on the accessibility characteristics of the site. They are therefore transported via a skip from their silo to a dosing tank. The mixing blades on concrete mixers are protected by a special wear-safe alloy composition.

Here’s How a Concrete Batch Plant Works

Some of these inputs include sand, water, aggregate (rocks, gravel, etc.), fly ash, potash, and cement. Concrete is formed when portland cement creates a paste with water that binds with sand and rock to harden. Use any visually interesting disposable plastic containers (or cardboard container) to make your planters. In this case, I used salvaged disposable nursery pots; the tear-apart ones that you buy a package of plant starts in. Add a touch of industrial flair to your garden with one of these lightweight concrete planters.

Can Concrete Leach Chemicals into the Soil?

Clinker comes out of the kiln as grey balls, about the size of marbles. The finely ground raw material or the slurry is fed into the higher end. At the lower end is a roaring blast of flame, produced by precisely controlled burning of powdered coal, oil, alternative fuels, or gas under forced draft. The cement kiln heats all the ingredients to about 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit in huge cylindrical steel rotary kilns lined with special firebrick.

Cement is composed after the mixing of multiple types of chemicals. The chemical reaction that takes place after the mixing of those chemicals will, in turn, compose cement, which is then used for construction purposes. Therefore, it is better to grow plants in clay pots or in the area where there is no usage of cement so that plants can grow without harmful chemicals in the soil. Plants are affected by cement and concrete because the limestone (calcium carbonate) it contains can directly affect the pH of soil, increasing its pH to high alkaline levels.

The plastic will act as a barrier from the chemicals of concrete and cement that leach into the soil with water and damage the plants. You have got detailed introduction of how does a batching plant work. If you planning to invest into concrete plant for sale, it is recommended to choose Aimix Group. On-site, the concrete transport between the plant (or the mixer truck) and the structure is done using a pump (stationary or on a truck) or a concrete bucket lifted using a crane.

Other than obvious climate conditions, there’s no way to know if you will have this problem ahead of time. These climate conditions will speed up the curing time and may cause the concrete to crack during curing. A mix that needs to be wet-cured will typically have that instruction labeled on the bag. There can also be rapid setting mixes but not necessarily quick curing, which can still take a day to cure. The length of time will vary, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. It’s much easier to make drainage holes during mold-making than drilling them after the concrete has cured.