GARDEN Art DIY: How to Make Hypertufa Garden Containers

How to Make Hypertufa Garden Containers

Make your own creative garden pots! Hypertufa is made from a combination of cement and natural fillers to create rustic, lightweight garden pots, troughs, planters, and other projects including sculptures.

I’ll give you the basics to get started plus some good resources for various DIY tutorials.

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Getting Started with Hypertufa

Hypertufa pots were developed specifically for alpine plants but they make excellent containers for annuals as well. Made from cement (and other ingredients), the finished product is naturally porous (allowing some slow drainage) and lends itself to all sorts of artistic ideas.

To get started, it’s very easy to use molds. These can be cardboard boxes or large plastic bowls, or smaller items like ice-cream or milk cartons.

One excellent feature is, while the hypertufa mixture is curing (setting up or drying), there’s a window of opportunity where you can adjust the shape of the planter and create any additional drainage holes needed.

What is Hypertufa?

It’s helpful to know the difference between cement, concrete, and hypertufa.

Cement is the main ingredient in both concrete and hypertufa pots.
Cement is made of various calcined (heated) mixtures of clay and limestone.
Portland cement is the most common type of cement used in concrete, mortar, stucco, and grout.
Concrete is a stone-like material made by mixing cement and various aggregates (sand, pebbles, gravel, shells, slate, or shale) with water and allowing the mixture to harden.
Hypertufa is made by combining various aggregates (sphagnum moss, sand, perlite, vermiculite) with Portland cement.
Pots made from hypertufa have a rough and rustic appearance. Concrete pots are smoother with a more uniform appearance.

In other words, you can make concrete and hypertufa with cement as the main ingredient.

How Long Does it Take?

Techniques and recipes vary quite a bit (depending on the desired look of the pots) but, overall, here’s what to expect. Most of the time is waiting time.

Day 1
You will spend an afternoon creating your pots (mixing the hypertufa and shaping it into molds). Next there is a waiting period to allow the hypertufa to partially cure.
Day 2 or 3 (depending on the instructions)
A day or two later, the pots are removed from the molds and you have the opportunity to make some adjustments or ‘texturize’ (rough up or smoothen surfaces) and add drainage holes.
Day 14
Pots should be quite firm by now and ready for daily hosing with water or vinegar rinses to reduce the alkalinity of the cement.
Day 21
By this time the pots should be complete cured (hardened). If you love the old-growth look, you can add a moss milkshake (moss plus yogurt or buttermilk blended together) to the exterior for a weathered look.