Why do experienced growers still use plastic pots?

[Ca++]

I like small pots. I'm trying to figure my tent, so I can crawl between them. While one poster thinks 2G is a starter pot, I have never been bigger. Although I'm close, if only I could find what I'm looking for.
This means having pots that dry back faster, is little use to me. Going bigger to account for that, just wasteful. I flit between substrates, and doubt coco would want so much evaporation. I have seen plenty of salt based systems, form crystallised deposits at evaporation points. Many that won't readily dissolve again. Making reuse a little questionable. Certain flood drain isn't happening in the manner I'm accustomed to.

One guiding light in all this, is what commercial growers are doing. I have not seen fabric at a nursery, except for tree's. Where you don't want circling, as plants get used to it. Often continuing after putting in the ground. That is why you root prune if a pot was used. With bags, you can crane them in. Though now we can find lots of root pruning pots. If you really want to stop a perfectly good root, and make it grow laterals.

Through successive potting up, my pots are pretty much solid anyway. If I saw wasted space, I would think the pot too big. Nothing is stopping a plant filling the middle, except the pot being so big, it need not use it all.

 

[dogzter]

we are old, lazy and cheap have not bought a pot since 2005

I believe your media has a lot to do with it also

I grow in soil-less inside and add more vermiculite to my pro-mix that appears to give

me a better root mass (feeder roots)

fabric pots do work well and do not sit in the landfill for the next 10 thousand years

all the best and be safe

Dequilo

Howdy Dequilo long time no see.
arb

 

[goingrey]

My memory sucks horribly these days but I think you had to step back from the forums from some reason or another a couple of weeks / months ago. If that's the case, welcome back!

If you have no earthly idea what I'm talking about, chalk it up to the ramblings of a memory impaired old man.

LOL thanks, just got tired of the bitching and whining.

 

[Poptart Smoothie]

I like small pots. I'm trying to figure my tent, so I can crawl between them. While one poster thinks 2G is a starter pot, I have never been bigger. Although I'm close, if only I could find what I'm looking for.
This means having pots that dry back faster, is little use to me. Going bigger to account for that, just wasteful. I flit between substrates, and doubt coco would want so much evaporation. I have seen plenty of salt based systems, form crystallised deposits at evaporation points. Many that won't readily dissolve again. Making reuse a little questionable. Certain flood drain isn't happening in the manner I'm accustomed to.

One guiding light in all this, is what commercial growers are doing. I have not seen fabric at a nursery, except for tree's. Where you don't want circling, as plants get used to it. Often continuing after putting in the ground. That is why you root prune if a pot was used. With bags, you can crane them in. Though now we can find lots of root pruning pots. If you really want to stop a perfectly good root, and make it grow laterals.

Through successive potting up, my pots are pretty much solid anyway. If I saw wasted space, I would think the pot too big. Nothing is stopping a plant filling the middle, except the pot being so big, it need not use it all.

That's really interesting, thanks for sharing. I read somewhere that plants instinctually send roots to the bottom of the pot and some feeder roots on the surface. If the pot is too large, you'll have a big empty core in the center with all the roots lined against the walls. Has that been more or less your experience?

I'm also curious about growing in smaller pots. I'm always trying to maximize my yield, it seems the more I have, the more I smoke lol. I bounce between 5gal and 7gal pots. Have you found it to impact your yields too much? What's your feeding schedule like? High frequency fertigation?

 

[Ca++]

Currently I'm doing the seed guys 500-600g per meter, using four pots, of 9L each. Fertigated once per day.

There are few types of roots. Some people talk of anchor ones, while others say our plants don't grow those. Others of a tap root, but only if it's a seed. I do notice seeds try to bolt for the bottom more, in the early days. I think a few pots have been slipped off during this thread though, and I didn't see any issues. The root systems seems little different to the plant. It will try to grow down, more than out. Until it can't. It won't become pot bound at the bottom, while not using the middle.
There is a lot to be said for potting up in stages. Where auto guys start in big pots, I imagine many won't get filled. With dry climate genes, they may see a great effort to dig deep with that primary root, which then circles. Perhaps finding room to do it's thing, without needing more space.

Seedlings will occasionally drop that root, straight down and through a hole. These then fill the pots more like a cutting. The dominant downward thrust halted, they branch out lots of lateral roots. When I break up my root balls to recycle, I don't see anything but lateral rooting, as I work cuttings mostly. This does reach the bottom and start to circle. Little more than it reaches the sides and circles though. The pics shown say a lot, but are not separating the behaviour of cuttings and seeds. Though I would have a crack at that question paper, especially if it was multiple choice

 

[CharlesU Farley]

That's really interesting, thanks for sharing. I read somewhere that plants instinctually send roots to the bottom of the pot and some feeder roots on the surface. If the pot is too large, you'll have a big empty core in the center with all the roots lined against the walls. Has that been more or less your experience?

I'm also curious about growing in smaller pots. I'm always trying to maximize my yield, it seems the more I have, the more I smoke lol. I bounce between 5gal and 7gal pots. Have you found it to impact your yields too much? What's your feeding schedule like? High frequency fertigation?

Plants send out roots in all directions, until they hit an obstruction and then go around the obstruction. It's not instinct, it's botany.

I'm not sure there's such a thing as a container too large. The plant will utilize as much soil / medium as it possibly can and if it doesn't need the excess soil, it just won't utilize it. You'll waste time and resources watering and fertilizing the soil but it's not going to have any adverse effect on the plant.

Since you directed your question to Ca++, I'm sure you'll get the answer to the second part of your question.

 

[Ca++]

There are problems associated with an excessively large pot.
You are buying more than you need
Carrying more than you need
Mixing more, as soil people love mixing
Then you are putting in more water, Perhaps with more emitters, and more feed. This means your watering schedule is extended beyond 24 hours. Sometimes as much as 3 days, before people see how bad that is. The feed accumulates, so if you want to use it again, it's a bigger pot to clean up, and more cleaning of what you have. Intimately you get more waste, when the time comes.

I'm not sure what question I missed?

 

[Ca++]

I'm feeling a little conflicted. I have seen enough seeds drop a root straight to the bottom of a pot, and get circling it, to know it's standard. The initial growth is something we have all seen in tissue. The reverse Christmas tree.

I have not dropped a seed in a huge pot. It's just not my thing. However I have done seeds outdoors. By the time they come down, they have put roots straight out sideways, in preference to downwards. This dropping of the first root, must loose preference at some point. Most plants want to stretch out through the top soil. It's the only bit farmers prepare. Land is taken out of rotation, to allow it to recover. Which is things like doing a cover crop to turn it. Or reforestation for a bit. The composting is happening on the surface, so if we just root straight down, we cover no more surface area. It's only worth going down, to find water. Plants spread across the ground. The other grass plants are good examples of this. Actually popping back up again.
Certainly, with this huge pot, and no obvious pruning, the roots are not avoiding the area directly under the plant. They want to be everywhere.

Must be some pics somewhere..

Sawn in half

 

[Sun&Soil]

Did someone say big pot?



I fill my barrel up every November with the soil from my outdoor garden and top with some homespun compost/castings. Then I drop a seed in the middle and sit back and watch the plant fill it up. No transplanting, no feeding, just the occasional watering. Super easy and lazy no stress. I finally got smart and put it on casters instead of the bricks so now I can sit in my chair and spin her around and around when training or pruning. When Spring shows up and I head outside to plant I recycle my soil back into the garden.

It's not for everybody but it gives me something to look forward to during the dark days of winter.

To stay on topic...Not plastic, not fabric, but wood with small gaps between the slats is another way that works.

Greenest of grows to everyone!

 

[xtsho]

Experienced growers use them because they work just fine. Professional nurseries use plastic pots to grow millions of plants. Cannabis isn't some special plant that needs special pots. It will grow just as well as the hundreds of millions of other plants grown yearly that end up being sold to consumers at nurseries and anyplace that sells houseplants, flowers, shrubs, etc...

Fabric pots work fine as well but I've never noticed any significant difference between growing in fabric or plastic. You can fill a trash bag with soil and grow cannabis and be as successful as those growing in fabric, plastic, or those expensive fancy pots. The container used is far down the list of things to worry about.

 

[dogzter]

I thought fabric was a step backwards all it really did was make more work and make the plants harder to handle for me.

 

[GreenestBasterd]

Used fabric pots for years with great results but had enough of a lot of what’s already been mentioned.

A good trick if they dry out is to water from the bottom, let it wick up from the tray and so on.

I switched to air pots and like them, two clips and they roll out flat and can be stacked neatly when your not using them. Same air pruning as fabric just easier to clean for me.

I was close to putting the fabric pots in the washing machine but the Mrs would murder me. Anyone tried that?

 

[Poptart Smoothie]

Thats some kickass info Ca++ ty for going into such detail.

 

[mme_oscar]

I was close to putting the fabric pots in the washing machine but the Mrs would murder me. Anyone tried that?

Yes, I go to those public coin laundry. First I let them dry, shake them thoroughly and sometime I hoove them. I've been mostly growing in organic Coco (guano and wormcasting) lately and they are full of filth. I wash them cold, with reduce spining. They can stand it but it's not so gentle. I feel it degardes them a bit.
I do so when I need to soak them in bleach.
It's a Pita when you have plenty of them.

 

[mme_oscar]

Also, I still use small plastic pots cause I prefer repot with these. Or even bigger when I'm out of fabric pot, just cause I have them.

 

[CocoNut 420]

I've been using air pots for around 15 years, I don't think I could wear them out or break them in a lifetime growing, they're strong as fk made with a flexible heavy duty plastic, dare a say they're unbreakable in normal use.

Fabric pots work in the same way with air pruning the roots, it might sound trivial but it makes a big difference to the root system.

I've noticed that a huge root ball doesn't really mean anything, some poor yielding strains have epic root systems on them.

Due to this observation I don't use much to veg with.

Sexed ready for re potting (5ltr pots) and flipping.

Just over 10 wks later.

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a one off or a fluke or something but no I've been doing this a few years now.

It works just fine.

 

[xtsho]

Does anyone grow in wooden containers? This guy did pretty good outdoors with a whiskey barrel planter.

Help with too many tops for Half whiskey barrel grow

Hi. I’ve grown outdoors for a few years but this is my first year growing in a container rather than in the ground. This plant has been growing since feb but started to flower in April due to a mismanaged gas lantern routine. In may it started revegging. I stripped it, and it came back with a...

www.icmag.com

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Yes, I go to those public coin laundry. First I let them dry, shake them thoroughly and sometime I hoove them. I've been mostly growing in organic Coco (guano and wormcasting) lately and they are full of filth. I wash them cold, with reduce spining. They can stand it but it's not so gentle. I feel it degardes them a bit.
I do so when I need to soak them in bleach.
It's a Pita when you have plenty of them.

I used to stress a bit about trying to get them clean and whether or not to put them in the washing machine, my wife adamantly made that decision for me. I just use a big aluminum wash tub outside to dunk them all in, no soap or bleach, swish it all around with a shovel, and then dump 'em out in the sun and let the sun dry 'em out.

 

[LndRcLvr]

Great thread hope you don't mind me throwing a question in..

Could one create a DIY airpot by drilling holes all over a plastic container? or do you need the spiky fluting to get the air pruning effect?

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Great thread hope you don't mind me throwing a question in..

Could one create a DIY airpot by drilling holes all over a plastic container? or do you need the spiky fluting to get the air pruning effect?

I'll let those who use AirPots give the definitive answer but I think the spiky fluting helps to keep the soil in the container. It's when roots get exposed to air for the pruning effect that they terminate growth and drive growth back towards this center of the container, where the soil is. Not wrapping around the plastic like a thousand tiny ropes, being exposed to nothing but each other and plastic, not soil.