Air pots ?

[Thepie]

Anyone use air pots? Are they any good or just a gimmick, I’ve used fabric pots in the past , which were pretty good on the drip system, but wasn’t impressed when hand watering, just seemed to run out the sides, what’s everyone’s preference, when using pots ?

 

[itchybro]

i've never used air pots but would think they would be similar to fabric pots in terms of air pruning roots , look into grassroots fabric pots if you wanna keep using fabrics , they use a white plastic lining on the sides of the pot

 

[FreoJJ]

I’m an amateur this season is my 3rd grow outdoors in my little greenhouse house . I rate them especially in the heat I think they obviously don’t get as hot especially when it’s hitting 40 degrees plus

 

[VinDeezle]

Usually if your getting water running out the sides of fabric pots in certain areas it's due to hydrophobic patches which show up when you're giving excessive drybacks or watering in a manner where your not fully saturating.

If I ever go more than a day inbetween waterings due to life and shit I'll get the same thing and it makes me realise Ive gotta do a better job keeping the moisture levels up.

I'm always trying to slow my fabric pots drying cycle down so I haven't personally tried airpots. Coco or peat with aggregate should hold more than enough air (well over 25% even when saturated when it's cut with aggregate) to maintain healthy rhizosphere.

 

[afghan bob]

I use fabric pots and ure right, keeping moisture levels up can be pain in the bum
Sometimes if i cant keep up, i'll wack a dish under 4 a day and let the wicking action slurp up any water spilled out of sides
Just make sure 2 remove when ure media catches up

 

[MM2K6]

Anyone use air pots? Are they any good or just a gimmick, I’ve used fabric pots in the past , which were pretty good on the drip system, but wasn’t impressed when hand watering, just seemed to run out the sides, what’s everyone’s preference, when using potsI

I use a fish tank pump in my normal pots and drop a line of air into your water too.

 

[Harry bootlace]

i’ve used air pots once. didnt seem to be anything special.
i’m using fabric this season and they seem to be better.
but maybe it’s just luck as my plastic pots are working fine this year and usually i struggle with those.

i like fabric pots in general though. for veges and herbs. easy to move around.

 

[Old Ant]

I have used airpots previously three times with soil and found that my root system when harvested was quite even and not root bound through the soil as apposed to when I used a standard plastic pot around the same size which was root bound Now im only on my sixth grow now trying fabric pots for first time so cant comment about these yet but thats my observations on airpots

 

[MM2K6]

if you use normal pots, stack and drill a heap of holes in the bottoms

 

[SAW]

I agree with Vinny water slowly to assist infiltration and break down the dry crust.
It’s been about three seasons now and for fab pots. I find they don’t dry out too fast. I built my first about 5 years ago, no base so connects to the earth. Still producing just with amendments added. I plan to build a few more of this style. I’d like a 1000L one day, just working out a spot is the hardest choice.
My 90L have a saucer underneath. I like to alternate between top down soaking and filling the saucer so they wick up. When the girls get over 2m you need to keep up with them, the leaves will tell you when, subtle drooping.
90’s are fixed, but 50, 40 and down to 15 are mobile.

 

[Goonie Goat]

I like plastic pots better than fabric when it comes to indoors because of 2 reasons,
They sometimes get a crusty buildup of salt at the bottoms which begins to look yuck, especially with algae blooms and trichoderma..

Secondly if they stay moist then it encourages fungus gnats to move in.. I remember seeing lots of the wrigglers crawling on the outsides of the fabric pots last time I used them..
For indoors i think plastic is better for sterile hydro setups.
I've drilled holes in the bottom half of pots before, can't remember if it did much though

 

[itchybro]

you wanna try & avoid a crusty soil surface especially if your wanting to top dress amendments

top dressed amendments are not available to the plant unless broken down into a plant nutrient available form by worms & other soil life , this soil life will struggle to do this without the presents of moisture , a common soil amendment worm castings are already plant available but if left to dry on the soil surface they are of no benefit

mulch &/or living mulch will help with retarding moisture evaporation through the soil surface but learning to water smaller amounts of water more frequently rather than lots of water all at once will help stop the top soil from going dry / hydrophobic & pulling away from the sides of the pot , which will often cause water to run off the surface & out down & through a fabric pots sides

using a moisture meter like the blumat can help to let you know when you need a more deeper watering apposed to more surface type watering , with living soils we generally are looking to have no water runoff

as for gnats they are annoying but in a living soil the life in that soil should keep them in check when moisture is on point plus we're not trying to keep the soil saturated top to bottom just moist , gnats can chew on roots of plants which can often be an issue in a coco type system but they prefer to eat fungus & organic matter which in a living soil you should have plenty of unlike a hydro system where you have plenty of roots & some fungi but not much else to keep them in check or fed

 

[Harry bootlace]

yeah i might add. my comment above was outdoor experience.