Self's homemade rectangular smart pots.

[self]

First of all, inspiration came from Maina, who does this large and round for the great outdoors.


Its taken me a few generations to get this how I want it. I started with milk crates, but it was too hard to find runoff trays that would fit under them (otherwise, awesome). I now use the plastic shelves of a cheap modular bookcase flipped upside down for my trays, and they work perfectly, but good luck finding that again!
These pots are roughly 8"x8"x10"h, which is like, over three gallons
(too lazy to do math right now, a cubic foot is 7 + gallons, so work from there)
anyway, without further ado...

thats landscape cloth, otherwise known as filter fabric, sometimes called weedblock; and deer fence, could be any kind of fence though, this is burlier than necessary. also tin snips, and needle nose pliers.

and...

any questions?
~self

 

[self]

here's an old picture, you can see the milk crate smartpot and some smaller homemade smartpots.


haha, and thats the book shelf, before I realized its true purpose...

 

[GrowForIt]

self: Thank you very muck for posting this, I've been trying to come up with a way to lst in smart pots for a while now, with the cage on the outside of the pot it should be a breeze!

 

[Aeroguerilla]

gotta love the homemade smartpots save some good coin

 

[Ai Ze]

tight mesh, no cloth -> airpot

 

[self]

self: Thank you very muck for posting this, I've been trying to come up with a way to lst in smart pots for a while now, with the cage on the outside of the pot it should be a breeze!

yeah, I use pipe cleaners to lst, really easy to hook on to the fencing anywhere!

glad I could help people out. I'll try to get a picture of the roots I get growing everywhere in these, when the two or more pots are packed together for a few weeks the roots will feather the surface of the dark sides of the pots.

 

[supersmallgiant]

self: Thank you very muck for posting this, I've been trying to come up with a way to lst in smart pots for a while now, with the cage on the outside of the pot it should be a breeze!

45' of Velcro plant tie is $3 at home depot. Sticks like glue to smart pots.

 

[jjh1957]

For a quick and cheap smart pot use a reusable cloth shopping bag. The standard size bags are 5 gallons. you can reinforce with a wire cage if needed or double up the bags. At a dollar a piece their alot cheaper than the smart pots. They even have larger bags which may go 7 to 10 gallons. They are made to hold their square shape, and offsetting your plant you can still make use of the handle.

 

[self]

thanks jjh, thats an awesome tip.

 

[GrowForIt]

45' of Velcro plant tie is $3 at home depot. Sticks like glue to smart pots.

Picked up a few rolls of this....it works great, outstanding find!

 

[bakelite]

Excellent idea. I just bought some square smart pots (Square Root). I like the fact that your design is rigid that allows you to easily move your plant around. Also good for the "lift the pot" method of watering

-bakelite

 

[self]

thanks bakelite! it works well for me...
budshots soon...

 

[medical marvel]

nice simple idea.. I must have yards of that landscaping felt

what are the main differences you notice when switching to a smart pot ? In the past I have done similar, but didn't know it was a smart pot, i had just ran out of containers and used cloth and a crate. Back then, I didn't have the time to compare.


LST string

For some reason, i started using jute string to LST. Used to use anything that was going, nylon string, Velcro Ties, Plastic ties etc.
Jute binds to itself and stays in place, so if I tie a length to a branch, i only need to make a single granny knot and it stays, without damaging the thin branch. I find I can really move those branches around with the string and get that scrog look. It's easy to slide the knot up to the next node to keep the branches. Maybe i'm living in an Amish time warp

 

[self]

nice simple idea.. I must have yards of that landscaping felt

what are the main differences you notice when switching to a smart pot ? In the past I have done similar, but didn't know it was a smart pot, i had just ran out of containers and used cloth and a crate. Back then, I didn't have the time to compare.

well I haven't done any proper side by side tests with clones and identical soil mixes or anything like that, but I have been running a few plants in square plastic planters too...
the smart pots definitely dry out faster, i'm sure they breathe better.
I can't say much more than that, I'm pretty sure the roots are able to colonize much more of the soil, you have to turn the bags inside out to get the roots out.
have a good one

 

[SRGB]

This sub-forum at ICMAG may be helpful:

Square Root(TM) Brand Garden Bag
https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=65725

Sizes for every garden. Methods and techniques on how to use.
Washable. Reusable. Handles. Re-enforced large sizes. By gardeners for gardeners. Quality manufacture in USA. Reasonable.

Website:

https://www.srbgb.com

 

[Iron_Lion]

 

[self]

beautiful iron lion!
I'll make a cage for one, or is that unnecessary in your opinion?

 

[Iron_Lion]

beautiful iron lion!
I'll make a cage for one, or is that unnecessary in your opinion?

No cage necessary, once they're filled with soil and rooted they hold their shape real well.

 

[self]

nice.
you pretty much just rendered this thread obsolete.

 

[self]

well I haven't done any proper side by side tests with clones and identical soil mixes or anything like that, but I have been running a few plants in square plastic planters too...
the smart pots definitely dry out faster, i'm sure they breathe better.
I can't say much more than that, I'm pretty sure the roots are able to colonize much more of the soil, you have to turn the bags inside out to get the roots out.
have a good one

I just dumped out the root ball of a kandy kush grown in a square plastic planter...
the outsides of the root ball were solid root, but the inside was relatively uncolonized, especially lower in the pot.
in comparison the smart pots become solid root mass, so much so that after the chop i soak mine in LAB and let them sit for at least a few weeks so I can reuse more of the soil right away, other wise I would have to compost the whole thing...
i wish i had pictures, but my camera is unavailable right now.