AirPots vs regular cups/pots

supermanlives · Apr 23, 2012

shorter stout plants + watering-. maybe blumats or bottom feeding?

Jungle.Microbes · Apr 23, 2012

I'm in the process of setting up a drip system for my 1gal air pots, the 3gal ones aren't as bad since the holes are smaller, they lose less water. The 1 gal's should be perfect with a drip system

DIDM · Apr 23, 2012

my homie did this

at the end there was so much difference I told everyone I knew about them

PetFlora · Apr 23, 2012

From what I can see AP roots have a more complex structure. It takes time develop it but once its there I think you will see faster growth

joedogsong · Apr 24, 2012

supermanlives said:
grower error. i been sprouting seeds in cups 25 years or more

Grower error my ass, I've also been using cups for decades and sometimes seeds just don't make it.

As far as watering goes I am setting these in roasting pans with water/nutes and letting them absorb through the holes. Not necessary with the bigger pots.

The bigger ones are not well engineered in that the bottoms will fall out if you try to carry them or move them without full support of the bottoms. I've wrapped zip ties on some and wired the bottoms on others as I'm still moving them around as I get a greenhouse built.

badboy287 · Apr 24, 2012

huh

huh

dont think sprouts can tell the difference between a cup and airpot.

my organic airpot grow, 2.4 gal

Desert Hydro · Apr 24, 2012

im running 12 2gal airpots. i love them

Van Diesel · Apr 24, 2012

10lt airpots and i found a dramatic increase in yeild

rives · Apr 24, 2012

joedogsong said:
The bigger ones are not well engineered in that the bottoms will fall out if you try to carry them or move them without full support of the bottoms. I've wrapped zip ties on some and wired the bottoms on others as I'm still moving them around as I get a greenhouse built.

Joe, I don't know how big of pots you are talking about, but I am running the 3 gallon ones and they have a row of longer "tits" about 2-1/2" up from the bottom that are meant to support the bottom plate. They are kind of hard to spot, and they are higher up into the pot than you would expect, but they are there.

VerdantGreen · Apr 24, 2012

interesting!

is there exactly the same volume of soil in the airpots and cups? i think that would be very important to running a fair test.

i used airpots for a few runs that were the same size as my regular pots, i found no increase in yield but a huge decrease in convenience as the water just p1sses out of the sides unless you water really slowly which i often dont have time for.
ive gone back to my normal pots now but i will watch your test with interest.

VG

SoloIsHungry · Apr 24, 2012

very cool thread joe.ive often wondered this my self.just never took the time to test it out.
thanks for laying the footwork.
they sound awesome imho,other than the claims of uneven watering.when i water ive gotta get in and out sometimes.i use a waterwand,20g trashcan,and sump pump.when i water now in either of my systems in either 1-3-or5 g pots i get great results.ill be tuned in in hopes of seeing something that will be more efficiant than what im doing now

mack 10 · Apr 24, 2012

Great idea, just got 2 big 20 litre one's. Gonna give them a run. Repotted a Dirty Harry clone from a 3liter normal pot to a 20l air pot just this morning. I''ll add some pics through the grow(if ya don't mind?)will be interesting to see the difference in growth/structure. mack.

lost in a sea · Apr 24, 2012

i did a few side by side runs with clones and the yield wasnt that much greater but the plants were alot better supported by stronger stems and branches and grew faster,, and some stuff hermed in normal pots that didnt in air pots,,

having said that i dont grow ganja in them for the same reason as verdant,, too messy indoors,, and the inprovement is less obvious in ganja because its happier than most plants in normal pots imo,, probably because alot more selection on cannabis has been done in pots than most other plants,,

but like i say other plants that are generally quite unhappy being container grown seem fine in them,, :2cents:

VerdantGreen · Apr 24, 2012

yes i should say that i use very big pots anyway and all my plants are supported by a screen so i guess those benefits would be lost on me.

what i suspect is that the volume of useable soil in the pot is significantly reduced by the layer of dry soil round the outside - which offsets some of the benefits..

VG

DrFever · Apr 24, 2012

i think airpots are more for people that don;t know how to water properly thus giving root system some air otherwise yield = root mass so bigger the pot the better

Funion · Apr 24, 2012

I primarily use airpots with blumats and coco. The combination works great.
I agree for shorter veg times the airpots probably won't be of use. I remedy that by using 1L airpots and then up-potting. Granted my veg times are not short.
I've noticed when hand watering airpots that you always get one or 2 openings that just pour out water. I jam a toothpick in the hole and try to dislodge something to create the beginnings of a plug.
When I first transplant I will pack all the sides as best I can with wet coco and try to plug up the holes.
Another option I've tried when up-potting from 1L to 1G airpots is to use very soupy coco and pour in the medium. Both methods work better than not doing something.
I won't return to regular pots and smart pots don't appeal to me either.

joedogsong · Apr 25, 2012

rives said:
Joe, I don't know how big of pots you are talking about, but I am running the 3 gallon ones and they have a row of longer "tits" about 2-1/2" up from the bottom that are meant to support the bottom plate. They are kind of hard to spot, and they are higher up into the pot than you would expect, but they are there.

Thanks for the input rives, now that I look the 'tits' are there, but the third row up. Sure seems like a waste of space to have them so high up.
Still the bottoms are not sized to the pots as pictured below.
Yes it was a pain to pack the holes, I tried a slurry but just very wet worked better.

I am finding that having the pots in catch pans and letting the runoff re-absorb back up is probably the way to go for now. I'll have to take a look at those blumats as I've never used before. I should at least look because occasionally leave for days at a time.

I am not interested in short veg times as my legal limit is 6 flowering plants per patient, I'm going for size.

The plants will progress through the available sizes as noted in the picture and will finish in the necessary size as they will be repotted as growth slows or stops. If they don't stop growing they will stay in small pots, just as the regular. In other words I don't care about volume of the cups vs volume of small air pots.

I am doing this for fun and not to get published in a scientific journal. I'll follow up with clones start to finish.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/photo_popu...lbums&cp=albums&e=vB_Editor_001&code=&page=2#

PetFlora · Apr 25, 2012

badboy287 said:
dont think sprouts can tell the difference between a cup and airpot.

my organic airpot grow, 2.4 gal

There is so much more to a plants intelligence than you understand. (Secret Life of Plants would be a good start).

Plants are very aware of their environment. A small pot is the equivalent of a small elevator compared to say an open escalator. I sure feel less entrapped on an open escalator. I'm pretty sure plant roots feel too

Scottish Research · Apr 25, 2012

Things are like $10 per 3.4 Gallon. Not sure if the extra cost is worth it. The smart pots are a lot cheaper at less than $4 per 3 gallon. (prices found online)

I'm just not sure that the return on investment is there.

R.Fortune

AirPots vs regular cups/pots

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