Drilling Drainage Holes by Ourselves

We know that good drainage is the key to healthy plants, but the containers that we find most attractive are often the ones without drainage holes. But we can drill the drainage holes by ourselves, and it is much easier than what most of us would expect. All we need is an electric drill and steady hands.

And here, let me show you how to drill holes on our containers.

Place a Wet Cloth on a Hard Level Surface

While some would suggest you to place a thick piece of cardboard between the hard level surface and the container, I would recommend a piece of wet cloth instead. The wet cloth can keep your pot from sliding.

Turn your pot upside down and place it on the wet cloth.

Mark Your Targets

Use a nail to make a little ding at where you want to drill the hole to prevent the bit from slipping and nicking the pot when you are drilling the hole. While it is relatively easy to make a ding on pots that are made of terra-cotta, wood, metal, and such, it is more difficult to do the same on ceramic or glass pot. In this case, I would just mark the target with a marker.

Choose the Right Drill Bit

It is very important to choose the right drill bit for you will likely to crack your pot if you use a wrong one. For glass and ceramic pots, I use the drill bit that is shown in the photo above. I don’t know what it is called or if it is especially designed for glass and ceramic, but it works wonders with my glass and ceramic pots.

Drill the Hole

Place the bit into the nick you have made. Make sure the drill bit is straight up and down. Press down lightly on the drill and then drill through the container in a steady motion. To prevent your drill bit from slipping around, you can first drill a shallow “lead hole” with a smaller drill bit, then, drill all the way through with the bigger one.

For Ceramic/Glass Pots – Add Water

Ceramic and glass pots are relatively easy to crack. To prevent this from happening, we must sprinkle the area where we are drilling with cold water, so to keep the temperature down. In addition, instead of drilling through the container in one single motion, I would suggest you to break it up into several times, so to keep the spot from getting too hot and cracking.

So this is how I drill drainage holes on my containers.  Give it a try.  It is probably easier that what you think.  And once you have mastered the skills, you will have so many more options for your garden containers!