Smart pots

[ttystikk]

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.

Those look cool, I solved the mess problem by running chowmix of 50/50 coco and hydroton. I use netpot bucket lids, sized to fit on a five gallon bucket. When I upsized to 27 gallon tubs, I used this to my advantage by creating spacers with homer buckets. Now, my netpots ride up high in the tubs, maximizing capacity. The root growth has been tremendous! Yes, this is RDWC, but I was running fabric pots at one point over the water before switching to the netpot bucket lids.

I believe that a combination system can be done with fabric bags in cages- a bit like the milk crate idea above, and water trickling through bags as well as through rdwc underneath. This would have potential advantages for substrateoptions, plus the chance for roots to do more than air prune underneath, even while retaining their portability while growing plants otherwise far too big for their size.

I'm thinking about raising fish and running their waste water through a biobed filter and into a system like this, thus it could be both organic, soil life positive AND RDWC. This is a bit like a system I saw being experimented with a few summer's ago, but it expands the water use circuit to include fish, a live source of nutrients and organic material.

 

[jfizzle2cmu]

I didn't realize there was such a thing as drying out too fast. Shit I strive to water dirt plants multiple times a day lol (not there yet). I'm just using ProMix and a touch of ewc. Takes 3-4, sometimes 5-6 days to use it all. I'm in plastic pots. Will switch to Smarts as soon as I have the money. IME, being that plants are made up of what 95%+ water, plants using more water should grow faster/better. How's the CEC in smart pots? Is it different than in plastic pots? I'm only having to add nutes every 10-14 days at 800-1000 ppm currently. Would like to be adding more frequently.

 

[Dopegeist]

If the drying out is because the roots are uptaking the moisture to the plant and the leaves are transpiring that moisture, then it's a metabolic driven evaporation.
When it is drying out because the pot is permeable and you live in a desert, then it isn't so much a benefit, more a hazard.
With how easy my outdoor bed has been? I'm thinking insulated greenhouses with supplemental lighting and topdressing is in my future. :)

 

[Cort]

I aint gonna go far into this.

Plants drinking it all is good,

plants not doing well enough to drink is on you

 

[jfizzle2cmu]

I aint gonna go far into this.

Plants drinking it all is good,

plants not doing well enough to drink is on you

I assumed that was assumed lol.

 

[Cort]

I assumed that was assumed lol.

If there is one thing I hesitate to point out, its that Perry Mason is needed.

The post before mine sums it up.

Yes, I live in the desert

 

[Dopegeist]

I just got tired of wasting water. Same reason I don't do RO.

I mean, you don't see many Israeli farmers using textile pots.

But them shits work great in a basement that has RH above 40%....Just Colorado is usually <30%.

 

[jfizzle2cmu]

I just got tired of wasting water. Same reason I don't do RO.

I mean, you don't see many Israeli farmers using textile pots.

But them shits work great in a basement that has RH above 40%....Just Colorado is usually <30%.

If there is one thing I hesitate to point out, its that Perry Mason is needed.

The post before mine sums it up.

Yes, I live in the desert

Got ya's. I live in Michigan where it is always humid...mostly. And yeah, I wouldn't use smart pots outside ever. Though, I prolly would never use a pot outside other than to ensure a stable medium for multiple plants, however, I'd still cut out the entire bottom and let the roots hit Mother Earth. Just my $.02.

 

[Seamaiden]

Why wouldn't you use them outside? I think they work pretty well (though I prefer my own homemade pots).

 

[jfizzle2cmu]

I wouldn't want to restrict my root growth to a single pot when there is all that ground out there already. I'd use them to keep a somewhat constant medium between plants, but I'd still cut the bottoms out to let the roots go into the ground. I probably wouldn't use smart pots because I think natural breezes (at least the constant ones we have here) would dry the soil out too quickly.

 

[Seamaiden]

Ah, gotcha. I use them or raised beds because after trying to grow in our heavy clay, I'm done trying to work against it. Far easier to get some good quality soil and put that in a more enclosed location.