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Smart Pots

Clackamas Coot

Active member
Veteran
A product that has become very popular with medical growers in Oregon are an item called Smart Pots and you can read about them at their web site.

Basically they auto-prune the roots. The pots are made out of a fabric which allows the transfer of air between the soil in the pot and the room.

When the roots hit the edge rather than turn down and hit the bottom of the pot and begin swirling around and around, these pots force the roots to stop at the wall of the container and not turn down but rather the roots begin to grow out from the sides.

When you harvest the plant and remove the plant from its container, it is almost impossible to break the root ball apart. The amount of roots contained within the root ball is nothing like you've ever seen.

Many commercial nurseries in Oregon have shifted to these pots. The main reason is that when a plant has grown to a specific size it is loaded onto a truck for shipment. You pay for the amount of space that an item uses in interstate transportation unless the weight rate is higher, i.e. hauling 40,000 cf. of steel pays much more than the same volume of cotton balls.

Combined with solid organic growing methods like the addition of compost teas, humic and fulvic acids, etc. the plant growth and development is pretty spectacular.

Hope this is of use to someone else............
 

ixnay007

"I can't remember the last time I had a blackout"
Veteran
Pretty cool, but what would you use for seedlings/clones?

The smallest size is 3 gallons, and that's about as large as I can use in my cab..
 

C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
those are similar to these http://www.superoots.com/. when i have some free space and time i would love to do a side by side i.e. plastic vs. smart pots vs. air pots. the root porn on the air pots is out of this world.
 

Clackamas Coot

Active member
Veteran
C21H30O2 said:
those are similar to these http://www.superoots.com/. when i have some free space and time i would love to do a side by side i.e. plastic vs. smart pots vs. air pots. the root porn on the air pots is out of this world.
C21H3002

My money is on the Air-Pots. They are widely used by nursery stock companies which do the high-end trees, shrubs, etc. for professional landscape companies for hotels, golf courses, resorts, etc.

I wasn't aware that they are as inexpensive as they are and I was really surprised to learn that one of their 2 distributors in the US is a small company in Oregon. Weird.

Thanks again for the link which led to information about buying them.

The Air-Pots are extremely well made and are better suited if you have to move a plant. The SmartPot has a drawback (a major one actually) in that you can damage the roots if your are not careful when moving the plant.

The Air-Pot doesn't have that issue. These units have a rigid structure helping to preclude root damage.

Having said that, there are medical growers in Oregon who do use the SmartPot with straight coconut coir and continue because of the results that they get. I'm not a hydro kinda guy but the SmartPot makes sense to me for coir.

The Air-Pots are far more expensive - no doubt about that but they're definitely a worthwhile investment. I've seen the size of some of the trees being loaded for shipment across the country and the size of the trees, given the size of the tree, is amazing.

Freight rates are established based on how much weight is being shipped from here to there and/or how much room does it take. Meaning that if you're shipping cotton balls you'll be paying by the cubic foot for a freight rate. If you were shipping kegs of nails you'll be paying a certain freight, per cwt, per mile. There are exceptions of course but that's the general deal.

So if you're shipping trees from Pigs Knuckle, Oregon to NYC, and generally the best time of the year to ship trees is during the months when that species is dormant from cold weather.

The price charged for a tree by the grower is based, partly at least, on its height. Taller trees cost more - who wouldda guessed, right? Generally you cannot get enough of these nursery stock trees into a trailer to the point where the weight exceeds the cubic foot rate - you get more trees of greater height relative to traditional nursery pots, per sq. foot, by using these Air-Pots = less cost, per tree, for the its freight rate. Increased revenue, per tree, given increased height based on container size.

Even if the growth rate, root ball mass, etc. were exactly equal between the 2 products, and price differences didn't need to be considered, the Air-Pot would always be the preferred choice because of the support it provides to the root structure.

Thanks again for the link.
 

jrw

Member
I am totally in love with those AirPots. I really believe them! :D

I'm doing all I can to acquire some here in Denmark, which isn't easy since we don't have any distributers :(

If any of you guys is gonna buy some, and would care to ship some further on to me, please let me know!
 

Cali smoke

Member
ty op, great thread

ty op, great thread

I'm gonna try some coco in those air pots. sounds like a good idea since you have more active roots sucking up nutrients, just gotta water evenly

stay tuned.. :rasta:
 
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C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
I think i may grab a couple smart pots and air pots just two each both the same size. get some clones do a little test with this outdoor season.
 

C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
Cali smoke said:
I'm gonna try some coco in those air pots. sounds like a good idea since you have more active roots sucking up nutrients, just gotta water evenly

stay tuned.. :rasta:
a double watering method would work well with these pots. another benefit is because the roots are so branched any damage down below the soil surface is a lot less than if it were in regular pots.
 

PHB

Member
C21H30O2 said:
I think i may grab a couple smart pots and air pots just two each both the same size. get some clones do a little test with this outdoor season.
At least from the US distributor the minimum order for many of the pot sizes is 50. If you know how/where to get smaller orders please let me know.

PHB
 

sunnydog

Drip King
Veteran
DIY

DIY

How about cutting out the sides of a plastic pot and siliconing im some plastic bug screen??
 

C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
sunnydog said:
How about cutting out the sides of a plastic pot and siliconing im some plastic bug screen??
do an experiment with equal sized pots. if it works we'll start calling the sunnydog method :joint:
 

blynx

WALSTIB
Moderator
ICMag Donor
Veteran
How do you water these indoors without having water run everywhere?
 

jrw

Member
Ok, I've made two air root pruning pot prototypes :D

I've used weed barrier cloth and thread - that's all.

Weed barrier cloth won't rot and it easily lets air and water through - just like the other products we've talked about so far. And it runs through a sewing machine like a charm.

Both the weed barrier and the thread is synthetic - so no rotting pots around the corner, don't worry :D

I've made a square pot - 14x14cm and 20cm high. It holds ~4 liters.
I used a good layer of lava rock in the bottom.


I transplanted my VERY rootbound/circled Oldtimers Haze X Sweet Tooth #3 into it right away.


Also made a small round 9cm diameter, 20cm high pot for sogging.


Please ask if you wonna know something... :joint:

blynx said:
How do you water these indoors without having water run everywhere?
Well, gave my newly transplanted plant a good watering and had no spilling at all. The pot sides do get wet, but no water pouring through. You just need to wait for the soil to absorb the water properly.

The Superoots Air Pots seem perfect in this matter, as they can actually be dunk-watered with good results.
 
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ixnay007

"I can't remember the last time I had a blackout"
Veteran
jrw said:
I am totally in love with those AirPots. I really believe them! :D

I'm doing all I can to acquire some here in Denmark, which isn't easy since we don't have any distributers :(

If any of you guys is gonna buy some, and would care to ship some further on to me, please let me know!


It's quite possible I'll be ordering some from the italian distributors.. (if they sell in quantities less than 50 :) )

If I do, I'll PM you, if you're still interested.
 
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