The alternative flowerpot

[420empire]

Greetings everybody.

I have read a little about pollution and toxic materials , and I have real realized ​​how much we humans pollute our enviroment here on the earth. One of the many problems is plastic and I was once again confirmed as recently as today when I saw this video:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/eben_bayer_are_mushrooms_the_new_plastic.html

I think that's cool that there now are an alternative to plastic pots and smartpots / normal flower pots, since in my view materials such as plastic releases small particles all the time, and thes can cause serious damage to both the enviroment and our self.

What is your opinion about this subject? It is better to use this alternative or is it just smarter to use the good old smartpots when it comes to indoor growing.

Best Regards

The Empire








http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/eben_bayer_are_mushrooms_the_new_plastic.html

 

[Sinkyone]

Plastic has no place in soil, it is nasty shit. I've been trying to reduce how much I use, but at this point I'm still using small plastic pots for my seedlings and clones. An alternative to smart pots is to simply make your own out of wire fence and fabric landscape cloth. They cost about a quarter as much as the store bought smart pots do as well as being plastic-free. I grow everything in those, or raised beds made out of wood now.

 

[Bennyweed1]

I try and grow out of fabric but plastic is everything and one or 100 people not growing with plastic wont change anything but make your life a little harder.

Do I wish things were different...yes but from another point...plastic is one of our most reusable source of materials.

 

[Harry Hoosier]

Landscape fabric - recycled plastic.

 

[420empire]

Well, I intend to use 100 % naturel is possible like wool aka.felt from sheep could be an idea, and what about wood and clay, which is a solid materiale and breathable .
At last the mushroom container which is made out of mycelium (hehe I think Jaykush would like that ,-) ) I am currently using smarpots and will continue to do so in a while, until I get startet on the project.

Ps. It is not my intention to say my ideas in this area is better than others, I just want to share som thoughts on the subject.

cheers

420E

 

[Harry Hoosier]

The video was excellent with a very progressive and innovative thought process at work.

Thanks for posting it!

Love to have containers made of mycellium. The ultimate planter!

 

[Sinkyone]

Have you looked into soil blocking 420empire? Those are about as natural as you can get.

 

[grow_right]

so what is wrong with plastic contianers????

nothing leaches out of plastic at room temps. besides plastic is re-usable.

 

[Sean Price]

Smartpots\Geo pots\ Roots pots are all awesome. TED talks are great! plastic pots suck! Roots hit the side, gown down to the bottom, and start circling! In fabric pots the roots hit the side, get stuck..then start branching out smaller side roots that uptake nutrients better. that's why plants grown in fabric pots have ridiculous root mass..and actually insulate better too

 

[420empire]

- Sinkyone
sounds nice, can I maybe get a little info on the subject. ( keep in mind, that I grow indoors)

- Grow right
There is a lot of negative down sides when using plastic. I am not only thiking when you use it for flowerpots, but also when you use is for food. plastic realese small particels all the time, take a bottel of water as a exampel. When it has been used for a littel time, studies have showed that there is between 250-400 diffrent toxic particles contained in the water. I find that pretty disturbing. As Feymann said once, we cannot always trust our eyes.

Cheers yall.

 

[Sinkyone]

Hmm for indoor I am not sure how well blocking would work. I've never seen in done inside anyway. Here is a little info on it:

http://www.pottingblocks.com/info.html

Basically all you do use use a blocking tool to make cubes of soil that hold together all on their own and then grow in that.

 

[supherbb]

I am gonna give the recyclable shopping bags a try for my next run. They are only a few cents a piece at places like ALDI's, and from what I've seen you can get them in different sizes. They are somewhat similar to smartpots and if they work just as well it would be a steal. Like I said, these things are literally pennies a piece and come with handles.

 

[420empire]

Here is something about the subject.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=plastic-not-fantastic-with-bisphenol-a

hmm, is BPA a part of the process in making the smartpots, cause they are mate out of FE / PE fabric.

 

[habeeb]

if you are concerned, which i guess we all should be.

-clay
-glass ( not sure if I've ever seen a glass pot, or anything with drainage holes )
-stone


but then if we go into this subject were guilty of many other things.. fans / lights / electric / inlines / carbon filters / R/O or tap water / nutrient leaching ....... .....


looks good to only grow outdoors now ..

 

[420empire]

Hey Habeeb.

You are deff. right when it comes to the whole growing idea. I am sure, that I'am only growing outdoor in a couple of years, seems like the best choice all in all. But when it comes to living in a apartmeant it is also nice to be selfsuffient with pot, but again maybe it is to a bit greeday ??

Cheers everybody

keep tokeing

 

[habeeb]

forgot to add,

rice hull pots. only problem is the roots like stick to the pots, so I would really only use them for flowering, as they were kinda a pain to use in veg with up-potting..

but I would actually like to use them again, your right with all the chemicals. but I am using chem to grow my plants right now, so I shouldn't be speaking ( well its actually more for testing NP ratios then anything ).. but I plan on trying to run organic is coco next grow..


edit: here's some rice hull pots