Smart Pots/Fabric Pots - Pros? Cons?

[SilentMurder]

Hi Guys,

Wanted to share my experience using smart pots and see if people have had similar experiences. Mine are mostly negative.

Cons.
1. Transplanting is a bitch. If you underestimate the size you need your in trouble. I tried to go from a 5 gal to 7 a few weeks before flowering. Ended up having to cut it out. Now every time I move the pot I can see the 5 gal soil ring in middle where the roots are holding the soil and the loose 2 inches on the sides moving all over.
2. Less "true" soil space. Just like your roots don't grow in the top few inches of soil because of less moisture, this also happens on the sides because the sides dry out faster.
3. Movement if you need to move your plants around or take them out of the grow room to water or prune, you move around the outer soil at the walls pretty good. I'm guessing affecting root growth in those areas.
4. Watering - heavy watering or flushing can come out the side walls or into any air pockets movement has created on the side walls.
5. They are more expensive than 5 gal Home Depot buckets.

Pros
1. Humidity - it's winter here and that means low humidity. Smart pots add humidity with increased evaporated surface area.
2. My plants look amazing. Not sure the pots were any help.
3. They do say it's better for the roots. I won't know for a few weeks after I harvest. I will update that later.

Well that's my rant. I know I fucked up with under estimating the pot size and other things. Flushing- I actually thought to flush with these pots, just get a larger plastic pot and fill it with water. Then sink the other pot into the water.. Lol. It was so buoyant I couldn't push it down. Ps I was stoned.

Advice: If you plan on using them, get a larger pots than you think you will need do to cons #1 and #2. Don't move them around either. Movement causes any soil not bound with roots to move around and create gaps in the soil that need to be refilled with soil.

I'm going back to plastic...

 

[MassMedMan]

Good feedback. I've been running fabric pots, smarties for a couple of years. I love them. I run 90% of my plants in them but they are typically my final container.

Here's my two cents on your observations:

Cons

1: transplanting from a 5-7 isn't easy, i agree, what you could do is use plastic until the final can. I also never up can unless I'm doubling the can size. I normally veg them in plastic cans, then transplant into fabric two weeks before flowering. I usually only finish in 7s, so typically my clones or seedlings go from solo cups, to plastic one gallons, sometimes then to plastic 3g, then fabric 7gs. I like to veg 3 months so that method works for me. In the past, i have taken a 3 gallon softie, and up canned that into a 7 gallon smartie, drop her right in. Roots go right through the bottom and sides and i made some awesome plants that way. Was a pain to move around cause it was almost 9 gallons of soil altogether. That method of upcanning softie into softie won't work with a 5 to 7 -- cause I've tried ; )

2. I typically get roots right to the top and always on my sides. I've never experienced what you say here. Heck, most of the time i can see roots coming through the bottom and lower sides where light doesn't zap them.

3. Moving them isn't as easy i agree. But mine go in my bloom room for flowering and are only removed when i chop the whole thing and move to my drying area. I have a decent sized grow space which allows me to do any work inside the room. Anyway, I've used milk crates in the past to put them in which helps a lot. A seven fits right into a standard milk crate.

4. I hand water, slowly, with a catch pan below. I grow organic, or with doc buds kit so flushing isn't something i do. When i do water, anything that escapes, it gets caught in then pan and sucked up.

5. They are more expensive. But, I've run the same ones over and over, that's a cost of doing business for me.

As for the pros, give them time and 2 and 3 will prove valuable. Plus storage, shit the space i save not having extra homer buckets laying around. As it is i keep six gallons of water ready at most times. I don't need twenty plastic buckets in and around my house and grow space. But, that's just me. I have plenty of seven gallon plastic pro cans, i just prefer soft pots i guess. ...

I'm all pro i guess, but everything has a con or two.

Happy growing

 

[SilentMurder]

Great info MassMed. I do feel part of my issues with smart pots was my inexperience using them.

I'm working in a small space so I need to move them often to get access to pruning and watering. This can displace the soil a bit.

My concern is allowing them to suck up the water back up after a watering. I try to remove that water to prevent ppm buildup with salts. Not sure this in necessary or not.

I'm glad to hear that your roots go all the way to the sides. Maybe I let mine dry out to much, but the sides always appear dry while the middle is damp. They get dry enough to create a little extra room in the pot on the side for more soil. Do you have to do extra watering just to keep the sides damp? I'm only watering every 8-10 days or so, right when I see very slight wilting. My plants are 6.5 weeks into flower and roughly 28-34 inches tall but very bushy. 4x4 tent 5 plants. Probably 1 plant to many, but I didn't want to just get rid of it.

I'll post some pics when I get home. Keep up the good work!

 

[MassMedMan]

Great info MassMed. I do feel part of my issues with smart pots was my inexperience using them.

I'm working in a small space so I need to move them often to get access to pruning and watering. This can displace the soil a bit.

My concern is allowing them to suck up the water back up after a watering. I try to remove that water to prevent ppm buildup with salts. Not sure this in necessary or not.

I'm glad to hear that your roots go all the way to the sides. Maybe I let mine dry out to much, but the sides always appear dry while the middle is damp. They get dry enough to create a little extra room in the pot on the side for more soil. Do you have to do extra watering just to keep the sides damp? I'm only watering every 8-10 days or so, right when I see very slight wilting. My plants are 6.5 weeks into flower and roughly 28-34 inches tall but very bushy. 4x4 tent 5 plants. Probably 1 plant to many, but I didn't want to just get rid of it.

I'll post some pics when I get home. Keep up the good work!

the times i want to suck up water, which is rare, cause like I said growing organic salt build up isnt a big concern, but at times when I have run say house n garden or fox farms nutes i vacuum it up with a small shop vac. but even then I only suck it up after they have had time to use it, typically i dont suck anything up as they drink it all in 30 minutes, that's my window -- anything not gone by then is vacummed

when my pots are dry, i go by weight no how anything appears (no offense) (I like to see them wilt in veg, in flower I go strictly by can weight cause I dont want my soil to go inactive from drying out at that time) I get a little pull off from the can to the soil, but that happens in plastic cans too. although in plastic cans i almost always drench when I water. but, it's never more than the top inch or two of the pot. so, when i water i use the water to fill that gap with soil, if that makes sense to you.

that seems a long time between watering, although if that strain is a fast finisher it may be slowing down. I have a couple at 6 weeks in 7s and they get two gallon almost on clockwork every four days. What temps you run?

 

[SilentMurder]

Initially my temps were 60 lights off, 80-85 lights on. About 2.5 weeks ago I removed the glass from air cooled 1000 watt hood, major lumen increase, then raised the hood 15" to 24"for better outer coverage. This puts my temps higher more like 85-95 canopy lights on. Got multiple fans working the canopy. Not much I can do about the lights off temp.. Basement in winter. Lumens (85 - 90k middle, 45k at walls)vs temp? I'm guessing my lumens is not a problem cause I saw some light-bleaching on some of the canopy tops that were directly beneath the light. Currently venting into the room, controls smell. Size of room not issue, the height is, 80 inches max in only in a small portion of room. So venting inside or out doesn't effect room temps that much. 5 White Widow plants, 8 week flower according to cropkingseeds. It looks like they might be spot on looking at tricomes. Using fox farms trio, but currently started flushing, 2 days ago was the 1st flush. Sry so much info. Thanks!

 

[SilentMurder]

 

[SilentMurder]