smart pots vs ebay copies

[Pseudo]

has anyone used a smart pot copy from ebay? that they can recommend, or am i better off with the original?

 

[touringfunkband]

Are they that much cheaper? One would think it wouldn't be cost prohibited with the cost of shipping compared to picking them up at your local hydro store.

 

[vertigo0007]

Buy a singer brand handheld sewing machine and a frw yards of felt made from recycled water bottles and make your own any size.

 

[Big Sky]

if your hunting on ebay for pots- i bid you to check out "plant warrior" pots-
i find them better then a smart pot hands down and they run about 1/2 the price, last 10x's longer etc-
just all around better pot imho- root prunes from the center of the rootmass to, instead of the edges like a smart pot-

 

[Pseudo]

wow thats different, in my case im using larger pots though, and want to be able to transplant from 5 to 10 gal

 

[Big Sky]

i think the plant warriors start at 1 gal and go up to 8 gal size-
i know for a fact they have 5 gal size-
something you need to keep in mind with this pot-
theres no light getting to that root cone or your rootz either like an air pot will allow-
2 gal size are 65$ a 25pk shipped- about 1/2 the price of 25 smart pots of the same size-

when your using an air pruning pot a 5 gal pot is about equal to a 7 gal reg non pruning pot-
something to factor in- so anything over an 8 gal- and your just wasting soil at that point- you can go a step further and add an enzyme to your feeding such as hygrozyme-
this will eat dead and dying root material and turn it into a food source for your plants which also helps develop a root mass twice the size of normal in the same size pot-
So for example-
using a 5 gal plant warrior and using little tiny doses of hygrozyme..is about equal to growing in an 8 gal pot-
save money and space-

 

[hempluvr]

They seem interesting enough. However I grow in 7-15 gallon smarties. How do those pots drain compared to a smarty? The root system in my smart pots is ridiculous.

 

[Big Sky]

id say as equal to if not better , faster- it drains from all sides, below and center-
this also depends on soil or medium used of course-
i have a few smartpots and its a non biased opinion here- these pots are way better-
cheaper, durable, last way longer-
easier cleaning, better technology utilized to gain air to the central root zone where it counts the most-
when i have to use anything over 5 gal of soil indoors-
i go hydroponics- pref DWC -
its more cost effective and you get the 10 gal result in a 5 gal bucket-
less time consuming -
but thats my style- I'll leave it to you to decide but if you do some searching around, you can find way cheaper things that are much more efficient then smartpots-

 

[Big Sky]

also want to add, if your using an enzyme, like hygrozyme etc and smartpots and saying that your rootz look great , well..its not the smartpot doing the work- its the enzyme-

 

[hempluvr]

I use no enzyme. It's the grower care on this end =) I may order a few and see what happens side by side with the smarty. I'm always open to trying new things.

 

[Pseudo]

thanks for the good info big sky, those pots very cool and are definately worth considering, but In my case I was talking about the phat sacks, geo pots,gro pro and fabric pots, does anyone have any input on those??