Green vs. white hanging plant baskets

This time of year we get are getting our pots and baskets together for the coming season.
We started to think about Green vs. white hanging plant baskets.
In the past we offered 12 inch hanging baskets with the idea that people would appreciate a basket that was a bit larger. But we are not convinced that people prefer a 12 inch basket over the 10 inch size.
Lets face it, the big box stores are selling the 10 inch baskets hand over fist so we thought we would try them this year.

Here is the style we use.

It’s a 10 inch basket that has an attached saucer and with a matching green plastic hanger. We have the wire hangers in stock if customers want them. One nice feature with the plastic hanger is they do not get bent up in the trunk of a car. They may bend over but spring back up again. The baskets with the attached saucer are more expensive but we like the look and the difference in price is not so great that we want to sacrifice a good looking and functional basket for a cheaper looking version.

In the past we have only used the Dillen 12″ green basket with built in saucer. We like the color and the shape of the basket is much nicer than the cheep looking ones from the box store.
Some growers feel the green baskets help the roots warm up faster, especially in our zone 4 climate. We just liked the low sheen green color. And since we start the baskets in the greenhouse I don’t see how this could make a big difference.

This year we are going to try some white baskets too. We will use them for the strawberry baskets and some of the sun loving plants in the hope that the white will reflect more light and keep the roots cool in the heat of the summer. The white basket is exactly like the green except for the color.

One thing we have noticed is the green baskets seem to be more resistant to the UV light. We notice that white baskets tend to get brittle when left in the sun and only last a season or more.
But we have never used this particular basket and we hope it will last longer than the cheap white baskets that are sold at the big box and mart stores.

Like most of our experiments we will keep notes and see if there is any appreciable performance difference between the white and green baskets.