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Super Air pots
- Thread starter zukinjo
- Start date
From what Ive gathered, and Im no expert by any means, they help with the oxygen to the roots and they air prune the roots when the grow out of the holes. In turn they stop growing that way and then start growing horizontally (making the roots "fish bone"). Another benefit is that yo can grow a larger plant in a smaller pot. Ive made my own by drilling holes and slits and using window screen material to hold in the dirt (my holes are just a bit too big) and it has worked quite well. I use the same sized pot with no holes to cover it after watering for a day or two and then the roots grow out of the holes. Remove the outer container and the roots that have poked out will die off (only the part poking out) and it will then grow like a fish bone. Ive been doing this with my mutant tomato plant and its working great.
BTW, I think they are called SuperRoots Air Pot.
BTW, I think they are called SuperRoots Air Pot.
Phychotron
Member
your talking about the airpots that are a sheet of plastic, rolled into a cylinder with holes all over creation? I believe those do NOT air prune the roots (that's what smartpots/root pots do, when the roots grow through the cloth). The guy at the store said they dont prune.
my bro got a bunch of those, 3gal, and they gave us an extra one on accident so I took it and it's been used twice. Before that I was just using the root pots and cheap wal mart pots to get started. (now i use the autopot self watering system) but the airpot is pretty nice. compared to those two, the root ball was much nicer. They dry out more evenly i believe, so you don't get that soggy bottom from bad drainage. The bottom of the air pots is a plastic screen for excellent drainage. Transplanting is a breeze.
watering can be tricky if you don't fill them up to the top. some water will start running out of the holes. Just fill them up to the top and you should be fine. make sure they have a tray or something under them to catch water. I switched to soilless (sunshine 4) right when I got it, which also helped i think.
They're cheap enough to try a few out and see how you like them. my bro seems to like them and got a bunch of 5 gal for larger plants.
my bro got a bunch of those, 3gal, and they gave us an extra one on accident so I took it and it's been used twice. Before that I was just using the root pots and cheap wal mart pots to get started. (now i use the autopot self watering system) but the airpot is pretty nice. compared to those two, the root ball was much nicer. They dry out more evenly i believe, so you don't get that soggy bottom from bad drainage. The bottom of the air pots is a plastic screen for excellent drainage. Transplanting is a breeze.
watering can be tricky if you don't fill them up to the top. some water will start running out of the holes. Just fill them up to the top and you should be fine. make sure they have a tray or something under them to catch water. I switched to soilless (sunshine 4) right when I got it, which also helped i think.
They're cheap enough to try a few out and see how you like them. my bro seems to like them and got a bunch of 5 gal for larger plants.
Phychotron
Member
Thats incorrect. This is taken from the site:
"The inward pointing cones direct the root towards the hole in the outward pointing cones where the air density in the soil is too great and therefore the apical cells at the very tip of the root dehydrate, or are air-pruned.
The response of the plant to this air-pruning is to send out more roots to compensate for the loss, which leads to the build up of a dense and fibrous radial root system in a dramatically short time."
I just chopped my first girl grown in an airpot (outdoor soil) and was very impressed. Good yield, strong plant and a root mass like I've never seen in normal nursery pots.
Unfortunately I've never grown out this particular strain in any other container so I have no point of reference for comparison, but I was very happy with the results.
These pots do airprune the roots. I've never personally grown a plant with such a complex, massive root system, but that's what they are designed to produce.
I am currently doing a side by side test of the same cloned strains grown in smart pots and air pots. I doubt that I'll do an entire grow thread, but I'll probably at least post a root mass comparison of a couple different strains grown this way.
Unfortunately I've never grown out this particular strain in any other container so I have no point of reference for comparison, but I was very happy with the results.
These pots do airprune the roots. I've never personally grown a plant with such a complex, massive root system, but that's what they are designed to produce.
I am currently doing a side by side test of the same cloned strains grown in smart pots and air pots. I doubt that I'll do an entire grow thread, but I'll probably at least post a root mass comparison of a couple different strains grown this way.
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Phychotron
Member
funny, cause as I was saying that I actually started thinking about it, and if the roots hit the open air on the sides they would do exactly that. I never saw a root actually growing out of the hole, as it is done internally. I swear the two guys at that hydro store are feeding the customers lines of BS in order to sell stuff. I think it's a new store so they're still learning as well, but I hate that type of misinformation.
you can also bottom feed with the air pots if you move the screen down to the lowest position (default is second up). If I didn't switch to the autopot, I would have picked up a bunch more of the air pots. I have a few 5gal root pots but that is too big for the plants, and when I only use ~3gal in them then the base of it is too big. The airpots are taller and take up less floor space.
Nice root porn BoB!
OK, here's my side by side test. Not exactly scientific since the air pot is slightly larger around and a good 6 inches deeper than the smart pot. Two Grapefruit Haze clones of the same age put into the respective pots at the same time and harvested at the same time.
Airpot rootball is on the right.
Airpot rootball is on the right.
I used the Airpots exclusively last year. I grow in coco and had very good results with them. I'm going to try something a little different this year with them.. I'll let you know how it works out.
mgk
mgk
