Smart Pots

baet · Sep 25, 2009

i have one 20 gal smart pot, the rest are chicken wire linned with burlap pots half way into the ground. the 20 gal smart pot, besides one other plant in a burlap pot, is doing the best, so vigourous and always looked so damn healthy.
i love smartpots, and will be using them in the future, actually performed better than i thought it would.

tree wizard, get three ft wide chicken wire, mold a huge cylindar shape, get the huggest size burlap sack or burlap sheet and line the chicken wire, have one or two people hold the burlap up in side the chicken wire while you fill it with dirt, awesome cheap way of keeping soil aerated and cool, also bury it half way so root can keep growing down into ground.

treewizard · Sep 25, 2009

I was thinking copper because I want to do some experiments with electricity and that would be a good conductor. Also I thought that it would be easiest to get a nice square pot. They really are the shit for closets. I suppose I could do the same with wire though. Maybe trim the wire so that you could punch it through the burlap and twist it down to secure it in place. Anyways though, would you say that you are satisfied with the burlap or would another thinner material work better?

baet · Sep 25, 2009

im very satisfied, its not a matter of thiness because the burlap is so loose compared to like clothing fabric, burlap has visible holes because its not titely woven. burlap will be useless at end of grow tho, from getting wet all season or grow it'll probably fall apart, mine did.

treewizard · Sep 25, 2009

Do you think that doubling it up would be good idea then?

baet · Sep 26, 2009

uhm yeah. i have no problem with single layer, they arent falling apart on me, one did just because we tried to move it, and the bottom just ripped open :O.

mrred · Sep 26, 2009

i found a ton of small burlap wine covers in their package , they are working pretty good, dunno about the roots, ill check those out after flowering is done. and the ones i got in the roottrapper bags are really loving it, healthy leafs up and down, seems like the bottoms leafs like to yellow at the bottom in normal pots, also growing a diesel ryder f2 in a 3gal with lc mix#1 and dry recipe#1, i forgot about the seeds for a day and they dried out but they look healthy now, i'll take pics and keep a half ass log incase it amounts to anything

chef · Sep 26, 2009

Whats that burlap smelling like wet? Should be fine for outdoor, I personally wouldn't want it inside. Same with Hemp burlap, that sheeite stinks when wet. lol

After almost a year running these things, my results are...
Overall improved plant health using SP's is a gimmee, increased yields etc. come more from what they allow you to do... Push everything HARD!

Rose56 · Sep 27, 2009

Hi, I was wondering if you placed your smart pots on soil will the roots grow through the bag and into the ground?

mrred · Sep 27, 2009

if you cut a big enough hold it would

onegreenday · Sep 30, 2009

I pulled the old root ball out of a 2 gal
and you can see all the tiny root ends
where the soil met up against the bag
and the entire outside of the rootball
is covered in these root ends.

When you break off a piece of soil and crumble it
I find a massive root web in the soil and if you
shake the soil loose you have a handful of root mass.

The rootball is just a mass of roots ;
root pruned for sure.

Maj.Cottonmouth · Sep 30, 2009

Rose56 said:
Hi, I was wondering if you placed your smart pots on soil will the roots grow through the bag and into the ground?

The hydro store guy I got mine from said you could drop a smaller Smart Pot into a larger one and since the the roots don't hit air they will grow through the SP.

An experience I had with the Smart Pots would seem to back this up. I had my SPs sitting in those cheap clear plastic trays to catch run off and one them had spots where it was touching the plastic and some roots grew through the pot. I have since put my SPs on metal trays with holes in them.

Best of luck and grow on!

Absolut · Oct 1, 2009

Could anyone provide some directions on how you 'bottom feed'

Wouldn't the water in the pans or tray become stagnant? I plan on using guano teas.

chef · Oct 6, 2009

I would suggest top feeding over bottom, a drip system would be optimal.

An occasional bottom feeding would probably be a good idea tho, would make sure the bottoms dont dry out, which they can do if underwatered.
Its hard to overwater them & they require more than normal pots do.

Weight & feel is the best way to tell when to water, they can fool ya

Expat · Oct 6, 2009

Hows this for a DIY take on a smart pot?
Use woven weed blocker mat to line the sides of a standard pot. The stuff I'm thinking of is like burlap only designed to block weeds/roots and will not rot like burlap. This might be the best of both worlds. Not quite "air pruned", but the lateral roots would hit the wall and tangle up, perhaps encouraging side roots. Plus you get the familiarity of running your own pots.
I plan to trial some in three to four weeks.

maryjohn · Oct 6, 2009

chef said:
I would suggest top feeding over bottom, a drip system would be optimal.

An occasional bottom feeding would probably be a good idea tho, would make sure the bottoms dont dry out, which they can do if underwatered.
Its hard to overwater them & they require more than normal pots do.

Weight & feel is the best way to tell when to water, they can fool ya

I and many other water almost exclusively from the bottom. I top dress manures and such, and because I don't want to get my trays dirty and have to clean them, I sometimes add fish hydrolysate to water and do it from the top.

it's a good gnat control practice. and it also keeps the mix becoming compacted (yes even a drip does this), which keeps more air in the root zone. I have to admit though, that if you mixing up your soil after each grow, there is no need. not sure if it even helps. my very sensitive carnivorous plants have to be watered that way for 6 months or so to become compacted.

watering from the bottom encourages root expansion throughout the pot.

I imagine the tray method would be very well suited to smart pots, since you don't have to worry about root rot you could leave them in unbubbled water. this is the same concept as "self watering" pots.

Absolut · Oct 6, 2009

chef said:
I would suggest top feeding over bottom, a drip system would be optimal.

An occasional bottom feeding would probably be a good idea tho, would make sure the bottoms dont dry out, which they can do if underwatered.
Its hard to overwater them & they require more than normal pots do.

Weight & feel is the best way to tell when to water, they can fool ya

Thanks, I'll probably top feed then.

I saw earlier in the thread CC said to:
1) Apply water around the trunk until water comes out bottom.
2) Then apply water around the edges until it drains.

I was just wondering if I could use the bottom feed method for when I couldn't water for a couple days.

Would leaving guano teas in the trays (~1-2 days) attract pests, mold, or fungus?

chef · Oct 7, 2009

Sure, you could bottom water in a pinch. My worry was the same as yours, mold/fungus.
Not sure how these would wick either? Medium would play a role on that too.

They blow up with SPs & a drip tho, crazy growth.
I'm dripping 1min every 1/2hr (aprox 1/2gal per 13hrs light on) of simple aerated H2O.
They take that & at least 1/3gal feed from the jug every night on top of it in 10gals.

I'm currently running 2 drip stakes per pot & I need to T them to 4 per for more even coverage, it proves those watering instructions are pretty important to keeping them evenly watered.
I have to really watch the top sides from drying out, even with the drip. They would w/o the jug top watering.
I'll snap a pic, worth a 1000 words

chef · Oct 7, 2009

Seriously, a drip system is so nice. Less work & a big boost in yields.

These shortfilled #10's really outperform full #7's, they love the big footprint.

Pump, cycle timer, 50gal H2O res & 20gal Tea brewer. Oh & a "GFCI circuit" very good idea lol I need to do a build article on it soon.

6 pots, 6 flavors, less than 30days 24/0 veg. Back row @ 26days 13/11, inside row @ 48 days.

I'm busy switching over to my winter setup this week, will post some more info on these soon. I have a few more HERE at 15days flower & will update that weekly. Should be a good show

P.S. Any DIY version that gets extra air to the roots will do some good, enough to prune even better. You don't want alot of light getting in tho, but you can see some light thru the Smart Pot felt.
Post how it goes

maryjohn · Oct 7, 2009

I've got a super sophisticated delivery system involving billions of nano machines delivering tiny amounts of nutes on demand and cleaning up any excess. I like to call it "organic soil"

If you water or feed from the bottom fill up you tray with pebbles and keep the water at or below pebble level. I don't suggest feeding anything that can go bad because you will have to clean your pebbles and tray.

Walmart sells pots with the tray attached (not smart pots), and although they require more water you do get air pruning a bit.

qbert · Oct 9, 2009

I'm looking for Smart Pots (or similar - cloth/spun plastic type) more suitable to SoG. Somehting taller with a smaller footprint.

Anyone know who might sell taller 8" round/square and smaller pots like this?

Smart Pots

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