2022 How to waterproof a wood planter? 

    Having wood planters is a more than happy thing. First of all, comparing to plastic or metal planters, wooden planter box helps protect the roots of plants from rapidly fluctuating temperature changes. And it also helps to balance the soft botanical character with a rustic hardness element. Besides, wood planters can blend well with plants with its natural appearance. It will look great with your plants placed in balcony, patio or inside your home.

    However, being a natural material, wood may get softened and decay over time, and being exposed to the harsh element like strong wind and heavy rain. Therefore, in order to avoid these kind of situation or to slow down the breaking down process, it is suggested to do some treatment to your wood planter before you start using it.

    Before you start reading the steps, check out if you have these:

- Drill

- Disposable gloves

- Polyurethane-based/ silicone-based caulk

- Oil-based varnish/ oil-based wood sealant

- Paintbrush/ cloth

- Plastic liner

- Measuring tape

- Scissors

1. Allow the wood to dry

    The first step of the whole process is to make sure your wood planter is thoroughly dry that doesn’t seal any moisture. So you can place the wood planter or garden bed in a spot where it can stay undisturbed for 2 or 3 weeks after assembly. Note that it is common thing that the wood will shrink as it dries, so it may cause the increased joints between lumber pieces.

2. Drill drainage holes

    Drill some drainage holes in the bottom of your plante. This is to provide a excess for water to drain from the soil.

3. Seal the planter

    In this step, you need to seal any joints and edges where the differents sides of the wood planter box meets such as the place where the walls of the planter meets the bottom of the planter. During this process, you may consider to wear disposal gloves since you will be using silicone-based caulk. The gloves will protect your skin from the caulk. After sealing is done, you need to leave the caulk dry compeletly. This process would take 3-4 days, make sure place the planter in a dry and cool place.

4. Apply oil-based varnish

    Once the caulk is full dry, you can move on to apply oil-based varnish to your wood planter. You can choose to use a brush or a cloth to rub, depending on what kind of preservative you are using. Wait until the wood stops absorbing the varnish and keep the wood stay wet at least for 10 minutes. Then wipe the excess varnish with a clean cloth and allow the surface to dry and cure for one day. Reapply the varnish and then this step will be done. Make sure the bottom of the planter and the drainage holes are covered as well. Frequent standing on wet surfaces and contact with water can make these areas more susceptible to decay.

5. Line the planter box

    The last step is to line your wooden planter box with thick industrial plastic to protect wood from further damage, making it more waterproof. You can use a measuring tape to measure the inside of your planter box and cut suitable sized plastic liner for the planter according to the measurement. After you covered all the inside of the box, remember to find the place where covers the drainage holes and cut holes in the plastic.

    If you finished all these process, then, congratulations! Now you have a waterproof wood planter!