GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Does five gallon container contain five gallons?

27-06-2003, 07:17 PM

in article , B. Joshua Rosen at
wrote on 6/27/03 9:13 AM:

A 19" TV has the same viewing area as a 19" monitor, the convention of
defining a CRT based on the maximum diameter of the tube itself rather
than the actual size of the picture arose with TVs. Once something becomes
an industry standard you can't change it even if it's widely regarded as
wrong. Assuming that the OP is correct and that a 5 gallon pot is really
3.4 gallons then there is probably some rational explanation for this
buried deep in the mists of time. If a pot were cylindrical rather than
conical then maybe a pot with the same diameter as the mouth of the
conical pot would hold 5 rather than 3.4 gallons (I haven't done the
calculation but it feels right). As another poster pointed out, plants are
sold in pots not dirt so their is no fraud involved. Dirt is sold in cubic
feet or yards not in gallons.

Would you buy a four inch tall tree in a 5 gallon pot for the same price as
you would a 5 foot tall tree? Even if your got a full size tree in a small
pot, it would be much more likely to be root bound, and require immediate
repotting.

Bill