Costco's Tiered Planter Has Shoppers Raving About The Gardening Possibilities - Is It Really Worth It?

When you need a space-saving way to grow plants, stackable tiered planters provide quite a few advantages. If you have a studio apartment or simply need to grow more plants in a smaller footprint, planting vertically is the answer. You could take advantage of the tiered planter trend by DIYing an affordable hack using IKEA products, which is a fun option. Or, better yet, spend less time and money by relying on the membership warehouse that focuses on savings – Costco — to purchase a stackable planter.

We already know you can find great deals and affordable prices for home and garden items at Costco, and one product that social media users are raving about is the 5-Tier Stackable Planter by Multy ($36). Reviewers seem to agree the planter is worth its price, providing a convenient place to grow all sorts of plants and using quality materials. However, others note to be prepared for its substantial weight when filled with soil.

It has an impressive 27-quart capacity for plants with containers stacked at five different levels. Each individual planter has drain holes in the bottom with a large centralized saucer ready to catch any spillover at the bottom. Multy is a company that specializes in creating home and garden products from old automotive tires, making this Costco planter an environmentally friendly option made from recycled materials.

With the stackable design, many social media reviewers are finding fun ways to create beautiful and practical collections of plants. "This could definitely be a statement piece with lots of cascading flowers and plants or even a fun herb garden," says TikTok creator CostcoHotFinds. You can place the stacked planter on a deck to grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs, making them easily accessible when cooking compared to walking to a remote backyard garden.

One Costco reviewer appreciates the ability to find an eco-friendly design in a multitiered planter made from recycled materials. "It was easy to assemble and seems very sturdy. I'm quite pleased with the quality." Another Costco reviewer says the product survived two windstorms to prove its sturdiness, while the drainage holes are extremely efficient at preventing too much water from collecting in the containers.

Another advantage of this design is that you can be creative with the assembly. You don't have to stack all five tiers, creating a shorter stackable planter or using the sections individually. However, you would have to purchase additional base trays to catch water if you don't stack all five levels together.

The Costco five-tier stackable planter has a 4.1-star rating on the Costco website, which is below average compared to the other planters the membership warehouse carries on its website. While some customers had trouble stacking the planters securely, others complained about its weight. One Reddit reviewer likes the design but didn't accurately anticipate the amount of soil required to fill all the planters. "[It] takes a lot of potting mix (more than you think)," the reviewer says. They admit it is quite heavy when stacked, though that wouldn't deter them from purchasing it.

Fortunately, Costco's compost is worth buying, so you can mix the compost with other potting soil to fill the containers relatively affordably. The combined 27 quarts of capacity along the five levels in the Costco stackable planter is almost equivalent to a single 14-inch pot with 7 gallons, or 1 cubic foot, of soil capacity; 1 cubic foot of soil often weighs between 110 and 140 pounds. If you want to be able to move the planter around, you may want to place it on a sturdy wheeled platform.

If the idea of tiered planters interests you but you're worried about your budget, Amazon has several similar designs that are cheaper, usually in the $25 to $30 range. However, many of them are made of plastic instead of a more durable recycled material like the Multy planter at Costco. Consequently, the Amazon products might not last as long, especially considering the significant weight of the stackable unit design when filled with soil.