DIY Smart Pots Tutorial

[Team Microbe]

Check these out if you're too lazy/don't have the resources for DIY tubes:

http://www.hydrowholesale.com/viagrow-viagrow-potato-planter-2-pack-5327

$5.00 ea. and would be better for marsh environments that don't see as much fluctuation in water levels like you typically see in swamps...



Another idea is sawing these in half:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-8-in-x-48-in-Concrete-Form-Tube-65470075/100321209?N=5yc1vZbv35

^those come to $3.00 ea.

 

[Sforza]

It looks like Home Depot has some fabric available that should work:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/6-ft-x-3...H=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1-2-_-NA-_-204268187-_-N

 

[PARADOX]

I'm reusing last year's bags with zero problems

 

[c-ray]

corix water products in Canada has 5oz 3ft x 360ft for 100 bucks a roll

 

[The Revolution]

I use these homemade pots in the swamps. I leave the bottoms open and just form cylinders using chickenwire and weed barrier fabric. Leaving the bottoms open and adding compost amended promix. I make them taller than normal smart pots to mimic the swamp tubes. Ive had excellent results using these.

 

[garlicnaan]

http://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Geotex...24301935&sr=1-2&keywords=non+woven+geotextile

can't beat 50 cent smart pots!!! excellent pictorial

 

[Shcrews]

We use an upgraded version of DIY smartpots on my farm, made of hardware cloth, tied together with bailing wire. they are half the cost of regular smartpots

 

[Hpchacrx]

http://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Geotex...24301935&sr=1-2&keywords=non+woven+geotextile

can't beat 50 cent smart pots!!! excellent pictorial

Thought they said that the fabric had to be woven?

 

[VonBudí]

bump, any ideas for camouflaging black smart pots, other than burlap/hessian bags?

 

[sprinkl]

Eat the potatos, fill with soil

I have some smartpots but this one is for putting on a bigger pot which isn't prepared yet, I want the roots to grow through into the bigger pot and didn't want to cut into my smart pots so...
And I know roots grow through the smart pots but was thinking the main root would get too thick?

Also been thinking about putting this bag, in a bigger bag, with perlite or expanded claypellets around and under the small bag, so there is a layer of air in contact with the roots around the bag, effectively increasing my soil surface and thus roots and bacteria with acces to air. I will probably give it a shot

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

bump, any ideas for camouflaging black smart pots, other than burlap/hessian bags?

Dig a hole just big enough for the smart pot to fit into. I've done that with 5 gal. pails and it works great.

Another option is to LST the shit outta the plants in the smart pots. Once they take off, you won't be able to see the smart pot at all.

 

[PARADOX]

bump, any ideas for camouflaging black smart pots, other than burlap/hessian bags?

we have used smart pots tilted onto their sides. It allows the plant to grow tall at first then when its put onto its side and onto the ground it will stay low profile with each branch acting like a mini plant as it starts t0 stretch back towards the sun light.. We have even tucked the smart pot part under pine trees with no ill effects. cant see the pot as the pine tree limbs cover it.

 

[VonBudí]

Going to wrap a smart pot with netting like sprinkl's pic and then stuff it with, brush.

We have even tucked the smart pot part under pine trees with no ill effects. cant see the pot as the pine tree limbs cover it.

had mine pretty close to pines in the past, would occasionally find needles inside nugs. would water running off pines on to plants cause any ph issues?

 

[PARADOX]

Took a break last season.. BACK AT IT this year!! Stoked for the big plans.. Pics to come over the next couple weeks.

 

[PARADOX]

Just finished a batch of 15 galon and 30 galon diy smart pots. We are also reusing for the 3rd year our og pots that we made in this original post.

 

[militia420]

Just finished a batch of 15 galon and 30 galon diy smart pots. We are also reusing for the 3rd year our og pots that we made in this original post.

What breeds did you use, type of cannabis, and what was the range of yields dried? I'm trying to figure out if I need to step up from 5 gallon. I think it's likely, but I don't know how big to go and I also don't want to get "greedy" and have choppers see my grows.

Please respond. I have to act within the next 2 weeks which is when I expect my recent 5 gal smart pot transplants to fill out their containers. Sooner is better as they'll be heavy and I have tendon health issues.
Thanks.

 

[Sluicebox]

Just did up a bunch of 30 gal loving it. Thanks for the great tutorial.

+Mil 420, 5 gal you'd be lucky to get a qp each guerilla style. You'd be better off putting them in the ground. Out doors you will leave nice trails to your site trying to keep up with the water needs of a smart pot. They work awesome but dry out fairly quickly. Good luck to you.,

 

[militia420]

bump, any ideas for camouflaging black smart pots, other than burlap/hessian bags?

Depending on the environments that you have available to grow in you can try to take advantage of tall grasses. Basically you would try to find spots in grassy fields that are near the edge of the field, preferably south facing. Then you put the bag into the grasses a few feet from he edge. You want to try to make it so if any one comes along the edge of the field there, that they will be less likely to notice the bag. From the air the bag becomes damn near impossible to notice. So you wipe out the ability of choppers to spot something that stands out the way it would on a cut lawn where there is no grass blocking out the black color.

That's what I'm doing. And then remember to keep the plot sizes small. Depending on how big you think the plant will get I'd keep the signature no bigger than maybe 4x4 feet. It stands out a lot less from the air. Most people say plots of 3-4 but i think the square foot signature from above is a better way of going. 3-4 is okay if it fits within the foot print that you deem is safe.

 

[Sluicebox]

I hope you're giving everything around it a free lunch. You will stick out like a neon light in a field of dried veg. Not to mention your trails. Make it look like a natural spring or something. Better yet, grow in a location that is a natural spring, stream bank etc.

Strips of material, browns, black, olive will help break up a pattern. If you just pull green grass and attach it to your smart pot it will quickly brown. That and you're giving bugs a ladder to hit your yummy veg.

You will water 3 or 4 times as often in smart pots vs plant in ground. IME plants in ground do better, get bigger than those grown in regular hard pots. This is my first year in smart pots. I use pots so I can move them in the Fall under plastic.

If you're in the bush, put them in the ground. If you're in a Legal State rock the smart pots.

 

[Growkid714]

i think the math is a little wrong .. a 600 gallon pot shouldnt be 90+ inches tall haha