any AIR POT or smart pot users out there?

[Ground Up]

I rock .5L pots,small ,water 4-5 times a cycle

 

[Biatchzxz]

Nice dude. Looks like some diesel

 

[Ground Up]

ty,left is a blueberry x gdp blend, one with cup is a woody kush

 

[touringfunkband]

It's my first time using smart-pots, so maybe I am not using them correctly, but I get some run-off from the sides and had to purchase some saucers to avoid water leaks. What do you do to prevent it?

Unfortunately, it's kind of inherent in the design. You can pack your coco/soil in by tamping down on the container when you fill it, but your always gonna have a bit of run off from the sides. It's the main reason I stick with smartpots. The airpots are just too messy for me.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

I'm currently doing some side by side test grows of airpots and smart pots but still weeks away from being able to examine the rootballs. I'm a dirt farmer and normally grow in cheap 5 gal black plastic nursery pots and I have had great results with them.

I bought 5 10 gal air pots last spring and just chopped the first plant that I grew in them.


Pics are below, but here are my initial observations:

The root ball was unlike any I've ever seen before. Usually I get a fairly large rootmass high in the pot, then a middle area with much less root growth and then the bottom 1-2 inches is the mass of roots the circle the bottom of the pot.

If the root ball is wet and heavy when I pull it out of the nursery pot, the bottom mass will usually tear away from it's weight.

In the air pot, the root mass was uniformly solid from top to bottom, and when I beat all the dirt from the roots, the root mass was thick and heavy and very finely developed.

I doubt that these pics can show what I'm talking about in detail, but here they are.

 

[Azzazal]

I have used Air pots for a number of grows and am now down to a 6l pot size. Tried 10l ones and unless your intent on a tree they are simply to big.

I start out plants in a small cup, veg for a week after pop then put them cradle to grave in the 6l pots.

here is a run down of my grow style,

I grow in :

1M tent
1m 100l drip tray
600s digital Dimming ballast,
400MH bulb veg and 600hps. I increment power from 25/50/75 in veg and 50/75 2 weeks of flower in MH, then HPS 600 and finally 12 days under MH.
Canna A n B, Bit of left over canna PK
H n G drip clean ( best product for coco i think, no salts = no run off)
2 x 6L Air Pots ( have grown in 10l and for the space, too much ^^, wonder pots! )
40l water rez and some tromph blumat maxis, good old gravity fed drippers.
Scrog full 1m

Last run i was in 3 6l airpots, didn't fill the net as much as i Should and still managed a 12z cured. If i had bothered to wait another 2/3 weeks I would have hit the 1g per watt i reckon.

This run I am down to two 6l airpots, drippers and will shoot for 1g per watt.

One thing to add. Airflow around the whole plant and pot is a must, the flow burns the roots, the roots like it and drink more. I am still learning all the time with this, trouble is that I am now able to spend days away from the plants when it is all dialled in.

I think I need a new hobby!

* Edit chucked a pic in of an African Free plant, at week 7, took her to week 11

 

[Dawn Patrol]

A little more info

A little more info

on what I previously posted. I grow outside with supplemental night time lighting (to control the photoperiod) and the plant (eXe Kush #2) in the 10 gal airpot was a rooted clone placed in the pot in late july.

It was vegged until mid September and then I moved it to my flowering area and chopped it last weekend when I took the rootball pics. The plant ended up being about 40" tall (measured from the top of the soil) and here is what it looked like 2 weeks before harvest.



most of it is still hanging so I don't know what the plant produced or even how it smokes yet, but it was obviously very happy in the air pot.

I will enjoy playing with these next year and growing some freakin trees in these things!

 

[dramamine]

Unfortunately, it's kind of inherent in the design. You can pack your coco/soil in by tamping down on the container when you fill it, but your always gonna have a bit of run off from the sides. It's the main reason I stick with smartpots. The airpots are just too messy for me.

Not true. Instead of tamping down, tamp against the sides of the pot. Water slowly the first couple of times and you won't have a problem.

 

[MMJQA]

Airpots and smartpots both give you an organized, more effective root system. The difference is obvious when you look at the rootball, which isn't a rootball, but a very organized network of fine roots. The large number of smaller, better organized roots spread throughout the whole pot without smashing up against each other. This allows you to run the same size plants in a much smaller container....so they really pay for themselves right away.

You mention nice compact rootballs, but the more compact it is, the less effective the root uptake. Roots smashed up against each other look cool in pictures, but have less exposed surface area. Both airpots and smartpots are well worth using.....

One other thing, I prefer airpots because they have an inch or so gap between the bottom of the pot and the floor, which allows for small amounts of runoff to remain without drowning roots. Really nice feature if you run coco. I've found that if you water slowly and deliberately the first couple of times after transplant, the 'water out the sides' thing is no longer an issue.
Also, you could make your own smartpots for dirt cheap or even use those fabric grocery bags...they all work essentially the same way.

hi can you tell me if i have to put wholes in the fabric grocery bags at all, is there preparation to use them as smart pots?

 

[MMJQA]

what do you guys think about doing beds with the smartpot material. this way watering would be more even and the roots would have more room to expand.

geo pots have something similar to what im thinking

 

[MMJQA]

I went to 2 different place here and i bought few eco friendly fabric bag. the one i bought from home depot is really plasticy(100% polyester) and i pick one up at the local supermarket (100% polyester) and it feels more like fabric and seams to breath easy.

i just noticed that the fabric for smart pots is made from Polypropylene fabric.

does anyone know if there's a difference or any cons in order to use the polyester fabric bags?

Thank for reading

i found this online:

Polypropylene Vs. Polyester

I've had many people ask me what the difference is between polypropylene fabric and polyester fabric used to make thermal underwear. In this post, I'll point out ony the factors that I think are the most relevant.

First of all, polypropylene and polyester are synthetic materials. They are both polymers, which is essentially plastic. As a result their colors won't fade or bleed when washed because the colors are built into the material. Polypropylene however, is more hydrophobic than polyester meaning that it does not absorb as much water. Since the water cannot be absorbed into the fabric, the water(or sweat) has a tendancy to spread evenly throughout the garment which in turn helps the water to evaporate much quicker than a fabric that absorbs and retains the water. As a quick example, if you cup your hand and put some water in it and continue to hold the water in your hand with your hand still in a cup shape, the water will take a very long time to dry. But, if you uncup your hand and use your other hand to spread the water evenly all over both of your hands, the water will dry in less than 1 tenth of the time.

So, having explained this, polypropylene will dry much faster than polyester. Polypropylene has a much lower melting point than polyester so you will want to avoid washing polypro in hot water or drying it. For this reason, polyester materials are much easier to care for than polypropylene. Polyester is also more UV resistant than polypro. If you wear polypropylene as an outer layer exposed to the sun, eventually the polypropylene fabric will break down and the color will fade. Polypropylene has a lower heat transfer rate which means that thermal underwear made from polypro will retain more heat than polyester.

So really, whether one fabric is better than the other really depends on what it will be used for. If you just need a fabric to wear next to your skin that will dry very quickly and thus keep you skin dry, then polypropylene is probably what you want. If you want just a good all around fabric that also dries quickly, but is very easy to launder and care for, then polyester is probably your best bet.

 

[MMJQA]

anyone?

 

[Taxman]

I've used air pots for about 4 cycles now and counting. Someone earlier posted some rootball pics so I thought I'd throw of my own shots in. This is from a 1L air pot before going into a bigger 4L air pot.

I tried sticking with the 1L straight through flower on my current grow and it is definitely a lot of upkeep. I had to water at least once a day or the plants would be wilted in no time. It would go from soaking to bone-dry in under 24 hours, so I won't be doing that again. Yield wasn't the greatest, but it was more of an experiment.

As long as you pack them properly as per the instructions (right to the rim, packed fairly tight) then you won't have a problem with seepage from the top or sides during watering. I hand-watered my 1L air pots for 4 months straight pretty much and had very little mess.

Overall I'm impressed with them.