Smart pot users I have a question???

[Ottoman]

Hello,

I finally gave the smart pots a try and I am happy as hell, I have a question tho I am 20 days into flowering and the roots are already popping out the sides. Should I leave them alone, cut them, re-transplant????

Any help would be great and here is a picture to give a better idea.

Thanks for the help!

 

[buddin_904]

i believe they will die off without any consequences..........this phenomenon is known as "air pruning" i believe. those are probably already browning and drying up at the tips .

 

[Finepointcanon]

Well I fancy myself a smart pot user so I may be able to answer.... oh, I'll just be leaving now.

 

[Ottoman]

right on thanks for the responses!

 

[mrred]

the ones from rootmaker dont grow out the sides, do your pots touch each other? do they have a good airflow around the pot?

 

[Ottoman]

mrred,

they are close together but not touching each other, will this make a difference???

 

[someotherguy]

high man, i see this thread is over a month old so maybe you already have your answers and my response won't be relevant but, just in case, lol, don't sweat the roots emerging from the pots as that is what you want.

with conventional pots a root hits the side of the pot and heads downward until it hits the bottom of the pot where it begins to coil, the older the plant, the longer the coils.

what Smart-Pots and Air-Pots and the like do is what is called 'air-pruning', someone already mentioned that earlier, so, instead of reaching down to the bottom and circling, the root emerges into the air and the tip dies so no coiling at the bottom of your pots.

what that also does is stimulate lateral root growth within the root mass and what you end up with is a much more dense root-ball able to support a much bigger plant than would fit in the same sized conventional pot.

anyway, sorry to be long-winded but i'm no expert so i wanted to explain my understanding as well as i am able.

btw, i grow micro-style so i grow small plants and i grow them in my own DIY smart-pots that i make from common landscaping fabric and staples, lol.

sounds gaffe i know but they work just as well as the store-bought variety for my needs and my cost-per-pot is less than $.05 so very cost effective.

here's a picture of a few to illustrate and they are all approx. 1.5 liters in size and they look dirty because they are on their 3rd cycle, lol. ...you can also see roots protruding if you look close.

hope this helps, SOG

 

[cirog]

I love the idea of home made smart ports with the landscaping fabric, always wondered how well that would work, glad to see that it does.

 

[NEW ENGLAND]

Can the Smart Pots be washed and reused?

 

[someotherguy]

Can the Smart Pots be washed and reused?

in a word 'YES' lol, although i suffer from a terrible case of lazy so i just dump mine and re-use when needed. ...so far no problems but like i said above, they have only been re-used twice now as this is the third cycle for these, never washed, pots.

peace, SOG

 

[Tfresh420]

What is the best way to wash these things? all the roots are stuck to the sides I took a razor to them which got off a lot of it but there is still a mess inside. any ideas?

 

[NEW ENGLAND]

Yeah,i'm a little on the lazy side to,but i'll dump em.Just wait till my wife goes to do the laundry.I can hear it now WTF......now he expects me to do his girls clothes too! LMFAO!

 

[NEW ENGLAND]

Hey TF,just drop em off.I'll tell her its part of being in the community.She's gonna F****ng love me.

 

[Tfresh420]

Yea I'd love to see their face when I drop them off. And NE, good to see another RI grower.

 

[humble1]

Best way to wash them is about 16 at a time in the washing machine with 3/4 cup of regular bleach. Take an old juice bottle and mix the 3/4 cup bleach with at least a liter of water and add that in 5 minutes or so in, before the spin cycle. There will be residual bleach, so I then run them through a second cycle with plain water and then through the dryer. Sparkly clean and pathogen free!

 

[NEW ENGLAND]

Back atcha!I'm sitting in the garden to keep warm! Cold as a witches tit out there tonight! Nice to see a fellow rhody at the rhodeo.

 

[someotherguy]

oddly enough, lol, i'm a Rhody as well

peace, SOG

 

[NEW ENGLAND]

Hey someotherguy,Rhody is as good as it gets,for so many reasons.Like I tell the kids.Great food,mountains for hikeing/ skiing to the north.Great sports venues.To the south casinos,NY and oh yeah Fenway South for 3 game weekend series at half the cost of Boston.Oh yeah and my wife just reminded me we have laundramats for the smartpots.Talk with ya rhodys later.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

I have some SmartPots that are 4 or 5 years old. I use OxyClean product - same deal as using hydrogen peroxide. I take them to a laundromat - let them clean out the pieces of pumice from their filters vs. messing up our washing machine.

If nothing else it helps keep someone employed perhaps?

CC

 

[ThePizzaMan]

I used to be anal about washing out my pots. I just stopped one day, and I have never had a problem.

I use coco...so maybe that is why.

I probably should start washing them again.