Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4 gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today
I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


This seems a large discrepancy even for a container not selling product
by volume. Which gallon (USA or Imperial) does the container use? How
did you do the sums to work out your figure?

David

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

Repeating Decimal wrote:
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4 gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


That's about right. A gallon pot normally holds about 3/4 gallon. Don't
try to make sense of it.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"We recognize, however dimly, that greater efficiency, ease, and
security may come at a substantial price in freedom, that law and order
can be a doublethink version of oppression, that individual liberties
surrendered for whatever good reason are freedom lost."
Walter Cronkite, in the preface to the 1984 edition of 1984

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

in article , David Hare-Scott
at wrote on 6/26/03 4:37 PM:


"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today
I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


This seems a large discrepancy even for a container not selling product
by volume. Which gallon (USA or Imperial) does the container use? How
did you do the sums to work out your figure?

David


I used the US gallon which is the smallest on my calculator. I US gallon is
231 cubic inches.

The formula I derived, although it should be available in reference books,
is:

V = (pi/3)*H*(R^2 +R*r+r^2).

H is the height of the conical frustum representing the shape of the
container. R and r are the upper and lower radii. H= 12 inches. R and r are
each *half* of the diameters 9.75 and 8.5 inches respectively. Out comes
3.4Gal.

Bill

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
in article , David
Hare-Scott
at wrote on 6/26/03 4:37 PM:


"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me.
Today
I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


This seems a large discrepancy even for a container not selling
product
by volume. Which gallon (USA or Imperial) does the container use?
How
did you do the sums to work out your figure?

David


I used the US gallon which is the smallest on my calculator. I US
gallon is
231 cubic inches.

The formula I derived, although it should be available in reference
books,
is:

V = (pi/3)*H*(R^2 +R*r+r^2).

H is the height of the conical frustum representing the shape of the
container. R and r are the upper and lower radii. H= 12 inches. R and
r are
each *half* of the diameters 9.75 and 8.5 inches respectively. Out
comes
3.4Gal.

Bill


Bill

Your sums are right giving 785 cu in and it seems (not being a native
user of US gallons) there are in fact 231 cubic inches per US (liquid)
gallon. So it looks like these pots are a very nominal 5 gallons.
Since you are buying a plant not an amount of soil I don't suppose it
matters much. I wouldn't want to buy soil, compost, etc from somebody
who used those volume measures though :-)


David

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4 gallons


They also make 3 1/2 gal containers. They must have been mislabeled! Go back
and complain! Don't let them get away with 1 1/2 gallons of your space! After
all, isn't your space personal? If someone tried to take advantage of my
personal space I'd give them what fur!

Jack

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

Repeating Decimal wrote:

in article , David Hare-Scott
at wrote on 6/26/03 4:37 PM:


"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today
I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


This seems a large discrepancy even for a container not selling product
by volume. Which gallon (USA or Imperial) does the container use? How
did you do the sums to work out your figure?

David


I used the US gallon which is the smallest on my calculator. I US gallon is
231 cubic inches.

The formula I derived, although it should be available in reference books,
is:

V = (pi/3)*H*(R^2 +R*r+r^2).

H is the height of the conical frustum representing the shape of the
container. R and r are the upper and lower radii. H= 12 inches. R and r are
each *half* of the diameters 9.75 and 8.5 inches respectively. Out comes
3.4Gal.

Your formula's correct. I imagine it is mostly blatant marketing
lies...much like the fact that monitors would measure 15" but only be
13.5" while a 19" TV is always 19".

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

On Fri, 27 Jun 2003 11:01:35 -0400, DigitalVinyl wrote:

Repeating Decimal wrote:

in article , David
Hare-Scott at wrote on 6/26/03 4:37 PM:


"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today
I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


This seems a large discrepancy even for a container not selling product
by volume. Which gallon (USA or Imperial) does the container use? How
did you do the sums to work out your figure?

David


I used the US gallon which is the smallest on my calculator. I US gallon
is 231 cubic inches.

The formula I derived, although it should be available in reference
books, is:

V = (pi/3)*H*(R^2 +R*r+r^2).

H is the height of the conical frustum representing the shape of the
container. R and r are the upper and lower radii. H= 12 inches. R and r
are each *half* of the diameters 9.75 and 8.5 inches respectively. Out
comes 3.4Gal.

Your formula's correct. I imagine it is mostly blatant marketing
lies...much like the fact that monitors would measure 15" but only be
13.5" while a 19" TV is always 19".

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

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.

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

in article , David Hare-Scott
at wrote on 6/27/03 1:35 AM:

Your sums are right giving 785 cu in and it seems (not being a native
user of US gallons) there are in fact 231 cubic inches per US (liquid)
gallon. So it looks like these pots are a very nominal 5 gallons.
Since you are buying a plant not an amount of soil I don't suppose it
matters much. I wouldn't want to buy soil, compost, etc from somebody
who used those volume measures though :-)

It does matter! Bigger pots, supposedly have larger plants than smaller
ones. This is especially true for fruit trees where the plants can be very
expensive. On canned soup supplier was once nailed for filling its bowl with
marbles in order to make you think you were getting more than you were.

Bill

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

in article , David Hare-Scott
at wrote on 6/27/03 1:35 AM:

Your sums are right giving 785 cu in and it seems (not being a native
user of US gallons) there are in fact 231 cubic inches per US (liquid)
gallon. So it looks like these pots are a very nominal 5 gallons.
Since you are buying a plant not an amount of soil I don't suppose it
matters much. I wouldn't want to buy soil, compost, etc from somebody
who used those volume measures though :-)

It does matter! Bigger pots, supposedly have larger plants than smaller
ones. This is especially true for fruit trees where the plants can be very
expensive. On canned soup supplier was once nailed for filling its bowl with
marbles in order to make you think you were getting more than you were.

Bill

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

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

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

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

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"B. Joshua Rosen" wrote:

On Fri, 27 Jun 2003 11:01:35 -0400, DigitalVinyl wrote:

Repeating Decimal wrote:

in article , David
Hare-Scott at wrote on 6/26/03 4:37 PM:


"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me. Today
I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


This seems a large discrepancy even for a container not selling product
by volume. Which gallon (USA or Imperial) does the container use? How
did you do the sums to work out your figure?

David


I used the US gallon which is the smallest on my calculator. I US gallon
is 231 cubic inches.

The formula I derived, although it should be available in reference
books, is:

V = (pi/3)*H*(R^2 +R*r+r^2).

H is the height of the conical frustum representing the shape of the
container. R and r are the upper and lower radii. H= 12 inches. R and r
are each *half* of the diameters 9.75 and 8.5 inches respectively. Out
comes 3.4Gal.

Your formula's correct. I imagine it is mostly blatant marketing
lies...much like the fact that monitors would measure 15" but only be
13.5" while a 19" TV is always 19".

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

A 19" TV has the same viewing area as a 19" monitor,
No, this hasn't been true- a class action lawsuit was filed and won
against computer monitor manufacturers due to this.

new SONY 36" HDTV = 36" viewable
15yr old 19" TV = 19" viewable
25yr old 19" TV = 19" viewable
5yr old 21" no-name = 20" viewable
7yr old 17" Nokia = 15.7" viewable
12yr old 16" Nanao = 14.5" viewable

TVs are always accurate take a tape measure into a electronics store.
Monitors used to be sold as 13,14,15,17,19,21 inches. Now you will
see 15.9",18.1",20.1" these are formerly 17", 19", 21" monitors. They
now show overly accurate sizes because for years they out and out
lied. Viewable areas were as much as 2 inches smaller than stated. I
got a check for a couple of bucks from the class action lawsuit
regarding this. woo-hoo!

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.
In my short lifetime Tvs have been accurate. CRTs were the only ones
with discrepancies. In the last 15 years that I've bought TVs they
have always been
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.
Eliminating the slope from the pot will increase its volume only to
3.89 gallons. To get this 12" high pot to hold 5 Gallons you would
have to increase its height to 18" tall. More than a slight change. I
actually found "five gallon" pots on the net that were even smaller
than this... they only hold 2.21 gallons.

I bought planters online and when they said they were 22qt..they were
22 qt... 8 gallons was 8 gallons...But then they don't sell 5 gallon
pots. They sell a 11" pot that holds 2 gallons.

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

In our last fun filled episode, Fri, 27 Jun 2003 17:58:50 GMT,
Repeating Decimal proclaimed:

It does matter! Bigger pots, supposedly have larger plants than smaller
ones. This is especially true for fruit trees where the plants can be very
expensive. On canned soup supplier was once nailed for filling its bowl with
marbles in order to make you think you were getting more than you were.

Wow, the manufacturer went to all the trouble and expense of
driving to my house and putting marbles in my bowl? I'm certainly
impressed by their industriousness.


Pam, but I'm gonna have to have a talk with the Puppies O'
Thunder about letting strange soup manufacturers in the house
when I'm not home.
the house.




---
"Oh no, not again."
- A bowl of petunias on its way to certain death

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"Lorenzo L. Love" writes:

That's about right. A gallon pot normally holds about 3/4
gallon. Don't try to make sense of it.

It's probably a full gallon if you heap it up.


--
Aaron

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

Monitors used to be sold as 13,14,15,17,19,21 inches. Now you will
see 15.9",18.1",20.1" these are formerly 17", 19", 21" monitors. They
now show overly accurate sizes because for years they out and out
lied. Viewable areas were as much as 2 inches smaller than stated. I
got a check for a couple of bucks from the class action lawsuit
regarding this. woo-hoo!



I say we revolt! There are people out there who can help us get what we were
told we were getting...A HREF="http://www.ncwm.net/main.html"The National
Conference on Weights and Measures…/A
I'm pretty sure a standard measure should be the same no matter what it holds.
If I was cooking and I needed 5 gallons of something and I used that 5 gallon
pot to measure with I would have a problem. Don't let them just get away with
not giving you what was advertised!
Write a complaint and E-mail it to:
I think each state has a department of weights and measures too. Write to them
to or the evil pot dealers will keep getting away with this crime!
Speak up and you will be heard!

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"Repeating Decimal" wrote in message
...
in article , David
Hare-Scott
at wrote on 6/27/03 1:35 AM:

Your sums are right giving 785 cu in and it seems (not being a
native
user of US gallons) there are in fact 231 cubic inches per US
(liquid)
gallon. So it looks like these pots are a very nominal 5 gallons.
Since you are buying a plant not an amount of soil I don't suppose
it
matters much. I wouldn't want to buy soil, compost, etc from
somebody
who used those volume measures though :-)

It does matter! Bigger pots, supposedly have larger plants than
smaller
ones. This is especially true for fruit trees where the plants can be
very
expensive. On canned soup supplier was once nailed for filling its
bowl with
marbles in order to make you think you were getting more than you
were.

Bill


I would judge the value for money on the size and quality of the plant
against the price. To me the amount of dirt is only important to make
sure they were not root bound. If you feel agrieved by all means
complain.

David

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

I was impressed with all the math work going on here. But why not do
it the simpler way? Tape off any holes in the pot and see how many
gallons of water you can pour in it till it fills up. An empty milk
jug would work nice.

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

in article , Gary The Rookie
Farmer at wrote on 6/27/03 6:59 PM:

I was impressed with all the math work going on here. But why not do
it the simpler way? Tape off any holes in the pot and see how many
gallons of water you can pour in it till it fills up. An empty milk
jug would work nice.

Simple is in the eye of the beholder.

Bill

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

Aaron Baugher said:

"Lorenzo L. Love" writes:

That's about right. A gallon pot normally holds about 3/4
gallon. Don't try to make sense of it.

It's probably a full gallon if you heap it up.

Or takes a full gallon of loose potting soil, tamped down into it...
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"Lorenzo L. Love" wrote in message
...
Repeating Decimal wrote:
The five gallon containers for plants always seemed small to me.
Today I got
to measure one of them. When I calculated the volume, it was 3.4
gallons not
five. Am I missing something? Is there a arcane standard for this?

Bill


That's about right. A gallon pot normally holds about 3/4 gallon.
Don't
try to make sense of it.

Back before plastic containers, one gallon plants were sold in metal No.
10 cans which contained only 96 fluid ounces (3/4 gallon). When plastic
containers came into common use in about the mid 1960s, the pots were
tapered but the height and circumference at the top were the same as a
No. 10 can and the plants were the same size but the container volume
evn less than a No. 10 can but still occupied the same space in shipping
containers and continued to be called one gallon plants. I think it is
just common usage and the nursery industry would get confused if you
called it a 0.75 gallon can. Has anybody ever complained about the
liquid volume of a 10 gallon hat? -Olin

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:37:46 GMT, "jc" wrote:

Back before plastic containers, one gallon plants were sold in metal No.
10 cans which contained only 96 fluid ounces (3/4 gallon). When plastic
containers came into common use in about the mid 1960s, the pots were
tapered but the height and circumference at the top were the same as a
No. 10 can and the plants were the same size but the container volume
evn less than a No. 10 can but still occupied the same space in shipping
containers and continued to be called one gallon plants. I think it is
just common usage and the nursery industry would get confused if you
called it a 0.75 gallon can. Has anybody ever complained about the
liquid volume of a 10 gallon hat?

^_^ Perhaps plant containers are like lumber -- a 2x4 is what?
1.something" by 3.something"? As long as everyone agrees on the
*definition*, as opposed to the actual dimensions, the gazebo gets
built. However, pot sizing may be less familiar than wood
"measurements."

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

"Glenna Rose" wrote in message
news:fc.003d0941019d4dbe3b9aca00139809de.19d4dc3@p mug.org...
writes:
On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:37:46 GMT, "jc" wrote:

Back before plastic containers, one gallon plants were sold in metal
No.
10 cans which contained only 96 fluid ounces (3/4 gallon). When
plastic
containers came into common use in about the mid 1960s, the pots
were
tapered but the height and circumference at the top were the same as
a
No. 10 can and the plants were the same size but the container
volume
evn less than a No. 10 can but still occupied the same space in
shipping
containers and continued to be called one gallon plants. I think it
is
just common usage and the nursery industry would get confused if you
called it a 0.75 gallon can. Has anybody ever complained about the
liquid volume of a 10 gallon hat?

^_^ Perhaps plant containers are like lumber -- a 2x4 is what?
1.something" by 3.something"? As long as everyone agrees on the
*definition*, as opposed to the actual dimensions, the gazebo gets
built. However, pot sizing may be less familiar than wood
"measurements."

Actually, 2x4 lumber used to be 2x4 which can cause problems when
remodeling a turn-of-the-century (19th to 20th) or older.
Now I'm wondering about that 10-gallon hat! LOL
Glenna

Rough-cut 2X4s are still 2"X4". Used to be a planed 2X4 was 1 5/8" by 3
5/8" which was arrived at by planing 3/16" off each surface of a
rough-cut 2X4. For a long time now, planed 2X4s have been still
smaller - 1.5 X 3.5 inches. So to be technically correct, I suppose
the term for 2X4s as we know them should be "planed" 2X4s. As to the 10
gallon hat, I believe it has to do with the number of braids, or the
number of strands in the braid, around the crown of the hat and not to
its liquid capacity. -Olin

Does five gallon container contain five gallons?
 

jc wrote:


Rough-cut 2X4s are still 2"X4". Used to be a planed 2X4 was 1 5/8" by 3
5/8" which was arrived at by planing 3/16" off each surface of a
rough-cut 2X4. For a long time now, planed 2X4s have been still
smaller - 1.5 X 3.5 inches. So to be technically correct, I suppose
the term for 2X4s as we know them should be "planed" 2X4s. As to the 10
gallon hat, I believe it has to do with the number of braids, or the
number of strands in the braid, around the crown of the hat and not to
its liquid capacity. -Olin

2x4's are denominated "nominal" for those whose dimensions _were_ 2x4 and
"dimensional" for those that _are_ 2x4 after drying, etc. (Drying shrinks
lumber.)

No clue how 5 gallon buckets came to hold anything less than 5 gals.

Bill
--
I do not post my address to news groups.