How to paint plastic barrels cheaply?

[Nette]

I want to plant "trash can potatoes" this year. (See http://www.homeandgardensite.com/more_tips_4.htm )

I intend to use a couple of 50-gallon plastic barrels cut in half. Problem is, they're white and I'd like them to be more inconspicuous, like green. How can I paint them cheaply? That spray paint for plastic is expensive and doesn't go very far. Can you buy that same sort of paint to brush on?

[LittleRedHen]

I just wanted to thank you for this idea. I had never thought about it. I am saving that website!!

[Junkmanme]

The plastic paint called "Fusion" is indeed expensive. But you don't have to do it again, so, in the long-run, it is cheaper. Buy the Fusion paint and then forget about it. It will last as long as your barrels, I imagine.

[al]

Due to our high water table in this area,I have been using plastic buckets and barrels for years. Some I leave white to get an early start, but most are painted green. I use Krylon spray cans. The paint stays on several years. The barrels still seem to dry out and crack aftera few years even tho being painted.

[65284]

I grow potatoes and tomatos in the brown plastic lick tubs that molasses protein supplement for the cows comes in. It's kind of like raised bed gardening, the brown tubs absorb heat and warm up the soil so I can get an earlier start. One tomato plant or one seed potatoe per container will raise a lot of produce. Almost anyone that has cattle will probably have some of them around and most people just discard them.

[SolarGary]

Hi,
A friend passed this idea on to me about painting poly barrels. I have never tried it, so not sure how well it works. He says:

Go over the outside of the barrel with a propane weed burner torch.
Then paint it with latex paint.
He claimed that this worked very well.

The barrels he paints sit just inside his living room solar collection windows (for thermal mass), so I would guess they end up looking pretty acceptable.

Gary

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

Another possibility would be to rough up the outside surface with sandpaper, so the paint will have a better chance of grabbing.

RF

[beorning]

I haven't had terribly great experiences with fusion paint. I painted a kids booster seat that had seen better days with it and it wore off in less than a year. A friend had the same problem with those plastic lawn chairs. Maybe it's a friction issue, I don't know, but it wasn't worth the expense for me.