Smart pots

[urbanfog]

I used four foot high "hog wire" in a five foot circle lined with a road fabric an underground contractor had left over. The fabric has 1" holes. Some soil leaked out but became stable. Had roots everywhere in the pot. View attachment 340024 those are my black panther guard cats. I also have wooden troughs two feet deep four feet across and on the slope a fence with the same road fabric to hold the soil in( in background of photo)

Awesome looking felines~!

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

If you never move your plants they work OK... But as soon as you scooch them at all the root ball gets damaged. They need 4x the amount of staking/support that a nursery pot needs. We just started calling them dumb pots.

 

[Seamaiden]

I can't move anything bigger than 5gal by myself or I'll hurt my back & knees. I have discovered that there is really no easy way you're going to move a 100gal SP. Same thing with my preferred raised beds. I consider them a temporary permanent placement. I can move them post-harvest if I should desire, but in the meantime, they're stayin' put.

My back is why I limit indoor cultivation pot sizes, too. I recently finished a run using 10gal and 15gal pots, and they were, for all intents and purposes, a permanent placement. Did not work out well for me and the room configuration, didn't work out well at all. Inside, I've either got to change the configuration and style, or go back to SoG.

Outside, though? Since I have a count limit now that's been imposed by the county, I need to get them as big as I can, and that means cubic yards' worth of soil. Once I put it there, it ain't goin' anywhere!

 

[Cort]

Way cheaper than hydro store

 

[paulycali]

Smartpots are the best fabric style pots available. Their competitors fabric is not the same. Not even close. Smartpots have there own special fabric. I believe a patented type of fabric as well. Either use smarpots or the good ole nursery pots. Do not buy competitor smartpots if you cannot afford the originals

 

[Dopegeist]

They use geotextile fabric.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotextile

 

[paulycali]

The qualities are different and the process differs
Not all fabric pots are created equal

 

[frebo]

If you never move your plants they work OK... But as soon as you scooch them at all the root ball gets damaged. They need 4x the amount of staking/support that a nursery pot needs. We just started calling them dumb pots.

Try one side by side with your nursery pot. I think the difference is in the oxygen's access to the roots. Check out the roots. I think you will find the roots fill the pot where the nursery pot will be root bound at the bottom.

 

[Oregon Panda]

They sag over time and as mentioned above are a total bitch to move.

I'm done with fabric for sure. Used them for the past few years and am using them right now. DONE.

Plastic or even better clay. The stability is priceless.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Try one side by side with your nursery pot. I think the difference is in the oxygen's access to the roots. Check out the roots. I think you will find the roots fill the pot where the nursery pot will be root bound at the bottom.

Have done the side by side years ago when smart pots first came out. It wasn't even a compition. If I need more O2 in my root ball I'll amend my mix. I don't let them get bound until they hit the 35 gallon tubs. Then they can circle all they want in there.

 

[Dopegeist]

A lot of factors, each will have to decide what's best for them.
For me the best move is to NOT pay $30 (or more) per container.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

A lot of factors, each will have to decide what's best for them.
For me the best move is to NOT pay $30 (or more) per container.

How many time can you use a smart pot before its all blown out and bulgy? 5? And they cost double.

I like when you need to pack in an area for veg and the "smart" pots are touching, then their roots all grow together. Its awesome.

 

[GR33NL3AF]

Have done the side by side years ago when smart pots first came out. It wasn't even a compition. If I need more O2 in my root ball I'll amend my mix. I don't let them get bound until they hit the 35 gallon tubs. Then they can circle all they want in there.

Care to elaborate a bit more on your results? Yield?

 

[Seamaiden]

A lot of factors, each will have to decide what's best for them.
For me the best move is to NOT pay $30 (or more) per container.

My homemade 'pots' were a fraction of that price. The landscaping cloth cost me about $30, IIRC, and I've used a fraction of the roll. As rain approaches I'm looking at that landscaping cloth with a different eye, a mud-eye. It's not at all like the stink-eye.

 

[urbanfog]

so far I have noticed better results in my smart pots vs my 7" plastic pots. Not sure if it is strain dependant but over all I will be slowly replacing my plastics for fabric pots as I continue to grow and learn. I also have made my own out of fabric cloth and was considering liners made to fit inside milk crates, maybe next go around Ill dig out my sealer machine and my serger machine and maker one up

 

[Dopegeist]

Yeah Sea, I was kinda just responding in general to the Smart Pot sales guy. I always used landscape fabric, but seeing some good geofabric online has me thinking it's worth a few extra dollars a roll. The concept is simple, if root grows out to impermeable wall, it will head down and circle, if it grows out of bag and dies, it will branch more (kinda like it does if you put it in a big 6ft hole)....So it is really just how you deal with that reality given your indoor constraints, like WW said a big tub does fine.

Problem I always had with breathable pots was living in the land of 20%-30% humidity, then dry out faster than they should (unless your sealed or humidified). And we shouldn't forget this isn't a weed driven technology. It's a tree farmer technology that was adapted for weed growers. Tree farmers use it because they can grow the same 6 ft tree for sale in a smaller rooting area, so when the load the truck in Oregon and drive it to New York, they can fit more trees on the truck. Increase $$, or decrease expense (depending how you look at it).

 

[Seamaiden]

Yeah Sea, I was kinda just responding in general to the Smart Pot sales guy. I always used landscape fabric, but seeing some good geofabric online has me thinking it's worth a few extra dollars a roll. The concept is simple, if root grows out to impermeable wall, it will head down and circle, if it grows out of bag and dies, it will branch more (kinda like it does if you put it in a big 6ft hole)....So it is really just how you deal with that reality given your indoor constraints, like WW said a big tub does fine.

Problem I always had with breathable pots was living in the land of 20%-30% humidity, then dry out faster than they should (unless your sealed or humidified). And we shouldn't forget this isn't a weed driven technology. It's a tree farmer technology that was adapted for weed growers. Tree farmers use it because they can grow the same 6 ft tree for sale in a smaller rooting area, so when the load the truck in Oregon and drive it to New York, they can fit more trees on the truck. Increase $$, or decrease expense (depending how you look at it).

Now THAT is something I've wondered about. I mean, yeah, our RH out here can get low, but it ain't the desert, it just ain't. So, how do folks in super-dry areas like Colorado deal with that? You just have to water the hell out of them, or do you take moisture loss mitigation measures?

I really dig the whole concept, I just have a hard time wrangling SmartPots at times. It's like getting into a fight with a rake.

 

[Mr.Sputnik]

if it's drying out too fast cling wrap that shit.

 

[altitudefarmer]

They sag over time and as mentioned above are a total bitch to move.

I'm done with fabric for sure. Used them for the past few years and am using them right now. DONE.

Plastic or even better clay. The stability is priceless.

I felt similar, until a friend had a great idea i implemented. I sewed my own square pots (about 6-7 gal) to fit into milk crates. Caging is easily attached, less root damage when you move them, and they fit well into tight places. I had a well-sloped concrete floor with a drain, so i didn't use saucers, but they are available. IMO, you can't beat a fabric pot. Never heard there was a big difference in fabric, Paulycali. I'd like to do a side-by-side.

 

[mayonnaise]

1-Gallon Square
172 cu. in 6"X6"X6"

I still love these RootMaker 1 gal square pots.. I have pulled 6 oz from one plant.. PurpleWreck in my 600watt closet.. 36 inches x 28 inches.. 2 to 3 plants at different stages.

this way Dirt last me forever and so do Nutes.. Still on the first bottle of Age Old.
I mix up moonshine mix minus the dry Nutes. It was the cheapest way with the best results.
Cant really over water with these but you do have to water every day.

Had 3 gals and they were just too large for what i do.. if i had multiple 1000s i would have 5 gal or 3 if i was wanting to grow some massive plants.


Best to order online...

the Big Tomato Bro's told me they no longer make them... since they didnt have them instock. lol fuck that place...

I used these pots for a year or so and loved them. The only problem I had was that I grow on flood tables and it would make a bit of a mess. I went back to fabric pots and the yield etc. was similar without the mess. I still have about 100 of those square 1 gallon so I might eventually give them another run.