Phychotron
Member
What exactly make these better? Just curious. Also, you probably couldn't do Hempy buckets with these correct?
because they are rigid, you can pick them up and move them without breaking the soil and roots apart, as I always do with the bags. Especially before the root ball has formed and the soil is not fully held together. I know what roots being torn apart sounds like, and it sounds a lot like that when the bag gets moved improperly. It looks like there are much better roots with them as well. they are ready to take off when put into larger containers. I've had plants that fell a few feet off a table in the 1L and were in pretty much intact, a little bit off the top. You cant do that with a bag very often, they like to explode.
I like the way the soil has direct access to air, whereas bags can become saturated for a day or so, and the pruning is done when the root grows through the bag. I think the air exchange rate would be much better with airpots, as passing air can displace the air pockets just inside the container, whereas passing air over the bag seems like it would have a harder time, and operate mostly via evaporation of the water and the air would be sucked in, like you cant just put the fan on it and say that the wind penetrated the bag and exchanged the air around the root zone. the airpot would also do that as it dried out, but (theoretically) more air exchange to the root zone throughout the day.
Transplanting is very easy as well. I had to replant one immediately after putting it into a 5L because the guy at the store built it upside down, just unscrew and peel back, no flipping the plant over and over again just to get it out.
I've had circling and waterlogged bottom with the bags (especially when not on a ring stand to allow it to get air to the bottom) but never with the airpots. They allow maximum potential for air to the roots, especially the bottom. I water via weight of the pot, so I tip it or lift it and they have a tendency to dry out more evenly it seems.
not sure what the hempy bucket is exactly, but you can easily bottom feed with these, if that's what it is. just move the bottom disc to the lowest ring. They are three parts, a bottom disc, a thick black parallelogram with holes in it to form the body, and a thumb screw to hold it together.
as for the bags in the washing machine, I would never want to mix that nastiness in my personal washing machine where I also wash my nice clothes. There's going to be some sort of residue left behind on the washer. Besides, by the time you rinse the first layer of dirt off the bags you could have completed washing an airpot. Going to the laundry mat cost more in time plus expense.
they are also able to be stored in a small space when you stack the parallelogram part, 8 of them were about 2cm thick on the 1L.