How To Make a Cute Planter Without a Drainage Hole Work Without Killing Your Plant

It’s best not to put a plant directly in hole-free container because limited drainage can cause root rot.
If your favorite planter has no holes, keep the plant in its original nursery container within the decorative planter, and take it out to water.
Drilling your own hole in the bottom of a planter is an easy DIY project.

Most plant aficionados have been told that a planter with good drainage (i.e. a hole in the bottom) is a must-have for your plants. However, some decor stores sell plant pots that don’t have a drainage hole at the bottom.

This begs the question: Can some houseplants survive in a planter with no drainage outlet? And if so, what types of plants stand the best chance sitting in water?

Below, we asked garden experts for their best tips for using that cute, hole-less planter you’ve found without killing your plant.

Lindsey Chastain is an expert gardener and founder of homesteading website The Waddle and Cluck.

Is It OK to Use Planters Without Drainage Holes?

Arrangement of indoor potted plants on a white table in front of a perforated board — Rawpixel / Getty Images

Although you can choose to use a planter without a hole in the bottom, it’s not a great idea. Without any drainage holes, excess water after a heavy spritz or pour has nowhere to go, which can cause your plant to get root rot pretty quickly.

Root rot occurs when plant roots, normally firm and white, become mushy and brown because very little air can get to the roots. The roots might even have an odor to them.1 2

Expert gardener Lindsey Chastain explains that using a planter without drainage holes starves your plants—and causes “an excess buildup of minerals, especially if you water with tap water because they aren’t getting flushed as water drains.”

What to Do If Your Planter Doesn’t Have Drainage Holes

If you find the perfect planter that doesn’t have drainage holes, the gardening department at The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Extension recommends double potting, or keeping the plastic punched-hole container from the nursery that the plant came in, and placing that within your decorative pot.

Double potting allows you to easily change out the exterior decorative planter, whether you want to decorate for the seasons or just switch up your design style.

“This is really the only way that works well without drainage holes,” Chastain adds.

There’s another reason why double potting might be a useful strategy, especially with a large planter: If you want to combine multiple plants in one planter (a spiller, a filler, and a thriller, for example), and they have different drainage needs, you can keep each species in its own plastic nursery pot within the large planter to drain at its on pace. (It’s also easier to move around your arrangement this way.)

A decorative planter containing vibrant foliage and greenery placed on wooden planks in front of a white wall — Yanzisland / Getty Images

“Check to be sure that the plants in the pot liner never stand in water,” the University of Illinois Extension advises.

The extension program and Chastain also say you can drill your own holes in a non-draining planter. This is fairly easy to do for wooden planters, but ceramic planters require gentle care to prevent breaking or cracking when drilling.

“If you are using a drill bit, reverse the direction, normally for unscrewing, and just go slow to avoid chipping,” Chastain recommends.

Some planters have pre-punched holes, and all you have to do is double check that the hole is punched out.

If you still want to use your decorative planter on its own without double potting (or if someone gave you an already-potted plant with no drainage hole), water it in the sink, let the water soak in, then after a few minutes turn it on its side near the sink for two or three minutes to let excess water drain out.1

Plants best-suited for this are damp-tolerant plants like milkweed and iris versicolor.