Tin cans as pots

Youngest son and grandson have beans on toast for breakfast on weekday mornings.  Would it be possible to make holes in the cans and use them for potting on before they go in the recycling bin?  What I really need to know is whether or not there is any coating on the inside of the tins that would make it impractical/unadvisable.

You surely have to assume that if cans are safe for food, they would be safe for growing plants in (even if the coating is damaged and the can has started to rust it would only be ferric (iron) oxides in contact with the soil, and you may well have recycled them by then anyway.)

My only concern would be about the sharp edges usually left when opening cans.

Rolled coils of coated steel are then delivered to can-making factories. For acidic foods like tomatoes and rhubarb, a thin coating or lacquer is needed on the inside of the can. This is put on at the can-making factory before the can bodies are stamped out. Tin coating and tin free steel are non-toxic, safe and strong.

Source: https://www.cannedfood.co.uk/how-cans-are-made-today/#:~:text=Steel%20used%20to%20make%20food,protect%20the%20steel%20from%20oxidation.

Text received from grandson to say thank you for your advice.  There are some surplus runners and French beans that are going in tins as an experiment.

stevenc, I wondered about that but when I queried it the response text said that as his mum had 2 palette knives he would use one of those to ease the plants out.

The experiment is on hold as grandson managed to acquire some yogurt pots from their new neighbours recycling bin.