great idea, one of the issues I had with the pots was constant root damage from lifting/moving.
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I grab them very carefully by the handles and they donāt seem to bother. Of course itās not like i take walks with the plants or soā¦
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yes i donāt move my plants. they are inside storage totes to catch runoff and i remove that with a wet vac. iām in coco and i water daily so i dont think i get dry spots.
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yea, I have a friend here that is running like 100,000watts and he uses them with coco/perlite, but, he doesnāt move or have to move them because uses drippers and tells me he doesnāt get dry spots. I offer that information as not to have my posts one sided. I have used them, and believe that for Manual watering of more than 10 plants, there is no advantage with MY style of growing. (not saying my way is better) different strokes for different amigos.
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Picking up a root zone in almost any pot shouldnt be done. Especially in large diameter fabric pots.
Ive used smart pots for a couple of years. Ill never go back to plastic pots. Air pots are stupid because 1.the price. 2. Its a plastic pot with extra holes on the sides. You can drill holes in any pot you want and make your own āair potā
Plus wth smartpots you can keep plants in a 1gal smartie for months upon months with very little problems. Try doin that with a plastic potXD
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Or one can use walmart fabric sacks I thought about using those at one time! LOL
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The man speaks the truth! My little Wreckage has been in the same 1-gal SmartPot sinceā¦ maybe June? I plan to use SmartPots for all of my mums going forward.
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Hell yah I did that the other day with one of my last outside ladies threw it in a five gallon bucket and dumped in a gallon or so of water soaked it up perfectly!
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thats right!! It is all about that fresh air inside. Submerging the pot allows all the old air to be pushed out, and when the water drains it pulls fresh new air down, much more effective than watering from the top.
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Salutations,
This simple system below was essentially trouble-free to me, especially for window-sill applications (at 1st):
http://oi54.tinypic.com/2cwv9qv.jpg
After all only some light customization proved necessary to enhance convenience and functionality a great deal:
http://oi51.tinypic.com/110wqx5.jpg
This front hole actually allowed easy access (to verify water level) in the bottom tank while it also evacuated excess water during refills (ā¦), also providing an air layer located right below the cultivation cavity in order for soil water to dissolve more oxygen, apparentlyā¦
http://oi53.tinypic.com/oa2fdt.jpg
We can see through the front filling/maintenance hole which resulted from my drilling that tank water migrated into the upper cultivation cavity via a capilary effect exploited in its 4 internal supportive hollow legs, equally filled with soil. Excess water promptly droppped into the reservoir down under, which helped to prevent soaking roots as in ordinary buckets.
Now hereās yet another newbie experiment, this time using an open indoors concept complemented by external cooling, which during cold seasons was practically free: i just needed to partically open a windowā¦
Pay attention to the soil topping which was intended to keep its surface dry and practically free of all foreign lifeā¦
http://oi39.tinypic.com/jaeu60.jpg
(2012-Apr-21)
Illumination did cause me to thinker though potting did not: i only had to empty those buckets once water started to turn redish, otherwise that was maintenance free (besides watering, of course).
Good day, have fun!! 
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Yeah, I worked for a guy that had one of his growers go awol. Thereās this trailer with like 33 Mataro Blue teen clones all in 1gal pots with no one to look after them. So weāre movin to his place to put āem in his backyard, but theyāre obviously rootbound and in way too small pots. Heās just a money guy and knows shit about growing, and heās already lost a ton on this growerās bullshit, so heās in 100% how-do-i-recoup-costs mode and lookinā for something as cheap and simple and fast as possible. So we go down to walmart and get 33 of those walmart fabric sacks, hit Canadian Tire for a couple bails of Promix HP and a bag of mushroom compost. We make a super cheap mix, throw them in bags and heās a happy camper in a few hours for like a hundred bucks. Totally saved the day. I was staying with him for about a week, so I got to see them take off after transplanting and begin preflower. So I think it was a success, from an economical standpoint.
But a lot of those bags are full of toxins and are microbial and fungal resistant. So I look for really ratty used ones at the thrift store for $25 ea. I choose ones with thicker fabrics, the seams sewn on the outside and look for vertical height over width, and ones with square bottoms over round. I use them for outdoor growing, and the roots grow right through the bottom into the ground. Also, the grass grows right up through the pot, out of the top.
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Great video!! That is my point. With my growing style, I am usually in a container for 2-3months. So, weighing the advantages vs the disadvantages of plastic vs fabric, in my case plastic wins.
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Ouch. A little harsh. Iāll admit Iāve wondered if just drilling holes would have the same results. If it did, I think more people would be doing it. IDK, I have done reg plastic along side airport and observed more rapid growth with the air pot. They look cool and I only flower 5 at a time so price is not really prohibitive. More oxygen for roots seems to work. But Iām old and high. So thereās that. Thanks!
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Iām using a few fabric pots but TBH I like the good ole plastic ones. They hold moisture better and didnāt even think about the root damage that I may have been causing by moving and messing with the fabric onesā¦ oh well
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This was from last yearās method, prior to fabric containers.
They are just cheap $1 baskets without solid bottoms (important)
lined with barrier fabric (also $1 bargain).
The center round basket holds a 2 gallon fabric pot and allows
moving it without disturbing the rootball and is what Iām using now.
If I want to transplant, once removed from plastic container the roots
are trained into a cone shape and the fabric comes away easily.
The baskets are also nice for tie downs (fabric gets velcro).
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Hell yeah. Ingenuity and a little clever flexing of the ol creative muscle. Iām a frugal person and try to remain on the lower end of the āmass consumerā waste market. Itās sad to see so many lackidazical folks just dump money into the next best thing without considering the reprocussions of the effects it has on us all.
Love it!
Cheers
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been using smart pots a while now. i soak them in hot water and dish soap, rinse them out and reuse, no need to trash them. they also take up less storage space than rigid pots.
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yeah, when I was using them, I would wash and reuse them also.
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Easy my brother. I recycle, only wear cotton, drive an extremely fuel efficient car, eat organic, only grow organic herb. Can I have a couple of cool looking plastic pots that feed my roots oxygen without being shamed as doing harm to āthe rest of youā?
Cāmon man. Peace
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