A Basic Guide To Buying Wicker Pots For Plants Wholesale

Post-pandemic, global consumers are getting more concerned about health, wellness, and sustainability. They continue their habit of indoor planting and gardening, and also give priority to eco-friendly materials. Getting started to source in-demand wicker pots for plants? – Here is what you should know.

What is Wicker?

Let’s explore about wicker first. Wicker is the technique or the style of making homewares, especially furniture and baskets, from pliable materials. Wicker refers to not only the thin wood strands that are twisted together. There are many more weaving styles, depending on each specific material. 

People traditionally use natural plants for producing wicker products, but nowadays, wicker homeware products are also made from synthetic materials. That’s why there are two main types of wicker: Natural wicker and Synthetic wicker.

Natural Wicker

Natural wicker is the material of plant origin, such as bamboo, rattan, willow, seagrass, and water hyacinth. These natural materials have some physical characteristics in common: Natural wickers are commonly lightweight, sturdy, but shouldn’t be exposed to outdoor environments all the time. 

Synthetic Wicker

Synthetic wicker (or resin wicker) closely resembles the look of natural willow or rattan. However, it is much more durable and versatile than natural wicker, suitable for both indoor and outdoor uses. This material can withstand almost all outdoor conditions, that’s why synthetic wicker homewares have a longer lifespan.

What are Natural Wicker Pots for Plants? 

Natural wicker pots for plants are the planters made from natural, flexible materials such as rattan, bamboo, seagrass, and water hyacinth. Made from these materials, these products have a unique look that you might easily notice. Earthy tones, a rustic or contemporary touch on the outside.

Most wicker pots for plants come with an inner plastic lining to pot plants with ease. It is a necessary way to protect the underlying surface from water and dirt, and guarantee that moisture don’t occur to natural woven products. The lining inside wicker planters is often a removable plastic liner, or PE plastic lining glued or sewn tightly to the planters.

Applications of Natural Wicker Pots for Plants

As to wicker pots for plants, their indoor applications are not limited . Wholesale indoor planters can be:

• Floor planters
• Hanging planters
• Planters on stand
• Display racks

It is thus recommended that natural wicker baskets for plants are used indoors for longer function and durability. The quality of wholesale indoor planters won’t be much affected in outdoor environments, as long as they’re kept out of water, high heat, too humid or too dry conditions.

Wicker pots for plants are a great addition to various spaces. The planters can seamlessly incorporate into living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, hallway, patio, as well as other spaces like home office, restaurants, hotels. Moreover, they work well for many types of indoor plants such as succulents, parlor palm, and monstera.

Materials for Natural Wicker Pots for Plants

In Vietnam, top popular materials for making natural wicker pots for plants are seagrass, water hyacinth, bamboo, and rattan. If you’re not experienced in sourcing natural wicker pots for plants, keep in mind that each material has distinctive features with different required moisture content and preservation methods.

Seagrass

Seagrass is among the most used fibers in making wicker baskets for plants in Vietnam. Seagrass is non-toxic, durable, and flexible, which means wholesale home decor vendors don’t have to put in much effort for processing. It is also easily subject to moisture because of adopting water from natural air. Therefore, having an inner plastic insert for seagrass planters is a must.

Seagrass is harvested, split and then dried completely in 3-4 days. This is the crucial step of processing to ensure better quality seagrass for weaving. Seagrass itself is transformed into diverse weaving styles, and all of them can be used in making wholesale wicker pots for plants. 

As seagrass weaving styles are generally processed in a different manner, their structure and costs are not the same. Wholesale home decor vendors in Vietnam also combine seagrass with other materials (water hyacinth, cotton) for more aesthetic planters.  

Water Hyacinth

For making wicker planters indoor, producers use water hyacinth stalks (stems) for processing and weaving. Water hyacinth is soft, durable and aesthetically pleasing with its honey brown color. Similar to seagrass, water hyacinth requires special care during the period of production and warehouse storage to not develop mold.

Water hyacinth is processed in various different manners. Most weaving styles of water hyacinth can be used in producing wicker pots for plants, but it is essential to include the plastic lining inside as a protective layer for the natural materials. These popular water hyacinth weaves are just in their look and pattern, and their properties are mostly alike.

Bamboo

Bamboo is one of the most versatile materials in the world with a broad range of livelihood applications. Bamboo embodies a hollow, woody stem that delivers high strength and durability. Not acquiring a pliable stem like seagrass and water hyacinth, bamboo stems need to be split and then processed in various techniques.

• Laminated bamboo
• Woven bamboo
• Spun bamboo (Coiled bamboo)

Above are three suitable material choices for wicker indoor planters in Vietnam. While woven bamboo and spun bamboo are preferably made into indoor planters, laminated bamboo is more used for making the rack for holding, storing planters. 

Laminated Bamboo

Bamboo stems are split into strips, then layered and pressed into a leak-proof laminated wood. This highly industrial technique gives laminated bamboo a smooth appearance and good tensile strength. It is perfectly utilized in making indoor pots for plants and plant racks (stands). However, laminated bamboo may be susceptible to fungi and insect attacks, especially if not thermally treated.

Woven Bamboo

Woven bamboo is a popular material in Southeast Asia for manufacturing indoor wicker baskets for plants. After being split from stems and treated, bamboo slivers are manually woven into a product, thanks to their high flexibility and low thickness. Woven bamboo indoor planters often have the lowest price, but an excellent quality and resilience. 

Spun Bamboo (Coiled Bamboo)

Spun bamboo is made from bamboo silvers which are curved, then glued and finished. This material often has an earthy hue, and might be painted with other colors applied for aesthetic quality. Spun bamboo planters can live up to 5 years and more if used indoors. Suppliers commonly provide a plastic lining inside to protect planters from water and soil.

Rattan

Rattan is a natural climbing palm that grows naturally in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in Southeast Asia. Rattan possesses a solid, flexible woody stem that can be bent and processed into different homewares. The outer appearance of rattan is a mixture of orange and brown color.

Rattan stems can be kept intact, or peeled off, or split into thinner strands for weaving making products. Rattan canes are mainly for producing racks, stands or shelves for holding planters. Meanwhile, rattan strands are often used for making wholesale indoor planters. 

Key Takeaways

The cost is also different among natural materials. As regards to a certain material, the production process also involves different steps. In general, seagrass, water hyacinth, split rattan strands (rattan core) and bamboo slivers (woven bamboo) are easy to bend and weave; therefore, their labor cost will often be lower, and their production time is also shorter.