How do you keep sides of fabric pots wet?

plantingplants · Jun 18, 2017

I have 300 gals and the sides are dry and it keeps creeping inward. Since I haven't had to water much. I use sprayers. I wonder if I should add a drip ring along the edge. I tried hosing between the fabric and the soil but its way too slow since the water doesnt just easily absorb it.

Ibechillin · Jun 18, 2017

Ive been thinking about this as well. Drip systems seem to make the most sense, they release the water only as fast as the soil directly beneath can "drink" until its fully saturated and begin drip releasing to the next layer.

With really good draining soil like ~40% perlite. I imagine you could just really soak them from the top and feel confident they were watered thoroughly. Water taking the path of least resistance, the more drainage the more paths to distribute down. Kinda of similar to how an area will develop quickly because of the roads that pass by and through it.

OrganicDisciple · Jun 18, 2017

I come out and just water the sides if it gets too dry between waterings. But even then I'm finding myself bored. That's the incorporation of the air prune also. Comes with the territory. But I also find that once the root mass gets big enough you can actually go in and add more soil to the sides. I do it when I add more soil to mine in july.

I've also notice people piling hay around the pots. Which ill.probably do when I add more soil and top the pots off so I know there getting every bit of the dirt I built just for them.

Limeygreen · Jun 18, 2017

You could always use sprinkler stakes for the micro sprinklers or just zig zag a drip ring around the pot so you can get some water to the edges for when you do water. Mulch may help, or you could always wrap a white plastic around the pots to keep it from evaporating, but that will only do so much.

Zarezhu · Jun 18, 2017

You gotta talk dirty to it

Kozmo · Jun 18, 2017

Blumats is what I use. It senses dryness, it drips.

HHILL · Jun 22, 2017

Wrap the smartpot or fabric pot with one to two layers of tan burlap. If that's not enough, then wrap the burlap with thin clear/translucent painters plastic, that will help hold the water in. I don't know the mil on the plastic, 5 mil maybe... No real need for extra sprinklers

Shovelhandle · Jun 22, 2017

The pots can't 'air prune' if the fabric is wet and rapped up to prevent evaporation. One might just as well planted in a plastic pail...

Jhhnn · Jun 22, 2017

Shovelhandle said:
The pots can't 'air prune' if the fabric is wet and rapped up to prevent evaporation. One might just as well planted in a plastic pail...

True. The real issue is to create a dry zone at the fabric that's as thin as possible. It can even be intermittent & have the same effect. I suspect that can be difficult in dry climates outdoors w/o constant watering so slowing down evaporation (not stopping it) could be helpful.

Jhhnn · Jun 22, 2017

Kozmo said:
Blumats is what I use. It senses dryness, it drips.

Blumats indoors, fabric pots & the right soil mix upped my game in a Yuuge way. It's almost impossible to over water. Pour on some ewc tea & they quit dripping, start back up again the next day because of excellent drainage & fast evaporation thru the pots.

It's a three-way made in Heaven.

plantingplants · Jun 22, 2017

Thanksfor the help dudes.

I think now that i have to do more drenching since the plants are bigger and drinking more, the sides will get wet and stay wet more.

But i do like the idea of shading the pot sides or making them thicker with fabric. Course plastic would turn it into a normal pot.

CrushnYuba · Jun 22, 2017

Mulch. Get bails off rice straw. When you Take it from the bail it Will come off in flakes. Take flakes and use twine to wrap it around the smart pots and flakes. Mulch the top also. For pots 200 gallon and smaller, i do not consider this optional. I thought smart pots sucked compared to lumber boxes and beds until i started doing this. A friend around here calls his property little Africa because it's balls hot

plantingplants · Jun 22, 2017

Thanks dude- im gonna get on this right away. Its hot out here and thse plants are getting big. I need as much wet dirt as possible.

I got a bad feelin about this.. Gonna be watering and feeding constantly in a month...

Shouldnt say bad.. Good and bad. Just worried about being able to manage these gals water and nutrients properly.

CrushnYuba · Jun 23, 2017

Don't stress it to much. It was 106 here today. My plants are straight. Make sure you don't over water! I'm not sure how much experience you have but allot of people over water. Especially since you are worried about the heat.
I don't know how much you have figured out with your feeding but i always say simple is better. Bottled hydro store nutes are way to expensive and have shit results. I pretty much exclusively top dress organic. It's easy, dirt cheap, and It's impossible to mess up. The plants take what they need. Chicken poop for veg and seabird guano for flower Is all you need. 5lb plants minimum in 300s. I'm on a largish scale but even if i was doing 10 plants in my back yard i would do the same.

plantingplants · Jun 23, 2017

Thanks dude. I just put a thread up in Growing Outdoors for my grow if you wanna check it out.

For big plants in 300s, how often do you top dress chicken and how much? My only experience is using grow more and mixing custom salt formulas.

CrushnYuba · Jun 24, 2017

I rock grow more sea grow pretty hard in my depps. I have used it outdoors but not really anymore. It's hard to say how much chicken to use without knowing your soil recipe. Either way it's pretty hard to over feed top dressing. They won't burn if you use to much.
My 300s that are recycled soil, i worked a full bag into each pot when i first planted. I will probably do 1 to 1.5 more bags as the year goes on split into a couple applications. Thrown right on top of the mulch. I usually do 1/3 a bag at a time. My new soil that was amended well i will probably just do 1 bag each. You really got to go pretty hard to get nitrogin toxicity. If you see signs of n toxicity, just slow down and go a little heavy on the Water.
Post your soil recipe in the other thread.

Jhhnn · Jun 24, 2017

Raw chicken manure really needs to be composted to use more than just a little bit. It's very high in ammonia. I don't know enough about soil chemistry to go much beyond that.

CrushnYuba · Jun 24, 2017

Yea, i figured that was to be assumed.i am pretty picky with the chicken manure. I only use shutzman farms. It does need to be composted.

HHILL · Jun 24, 2017

If you wrap the smartpot with burlap loosely, and do add the opaque plastic around it, there should be about 1/4 inch spacing between the fabric of the pot and the plastic. If not, put some sticks in to give the space. The plastic will reflect some heat (energy) and transmit some. The burlap will absorb most of the energy passed through the plastic before it hits the fabric of the pot. You will notice that the plastic has condensation on it during the day, keeping the humidity up on the edges of the fabric pots, effectively keeping them moist. The slight air barrier will air prune the roots as intended to create a nice network of roots in the pot.

My buddies in Hawaii use this technique as myself. Seems to work pretty good. Of course the mulch on the top is great, but you were concerned with the sides of the container.

The straw sounds interesting too, wrapped around the side. Might have to try that but the burlap doesn't break down as quick as straw.

Good luck and let us know what you did!

plantingplants · Jun 24, 2017

Crushn- ill probably feed my new soil based on soil analyses but my recycled 300s after adding a lot of gyp were pretty well balanced, then amended with 10 lb nutririch 5 lb suprgreen. Im thinkin they may need a topdress soon.

HHILL, i like that idea. Ill have to price it out. Thank you.

How do you keep sides of fabric pots wet?

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