Fabric pots v normal plastic

Hard to water the smart pots. It sometimes just runs off through the side instead of down into the soil. Especially late in flower when the dirt is full of roots.

These are my new favorite pots. Warrior Pots!


Best of both worlds. Easy to clean. The root balls just fall out of them with no effort. Lots of air to the root and easy to water.

wow they look nice anyone else looked into this?

warrior pots look good

Ive heard ton of pros and con on plastic and fabric pot just like everything else, but i recently started using them after doing research and seeing side by side videos of them. I do like them and my plants seem to grow more robust and healthy but i have not flowered with them yet.
as far as price and replacement i made my own fabric pots out of landscaping fabric and twist ties oh and i used the heat strip on one of those food sealer contraptions, you could also sew them instead. What ever works and its cheap and you can make a ton of them as big or small as you want. I made tall skinny ones as i have a micro grow, about the size of a two liter bottle.

SSHZ said:

Price always kept me away from the fabric pots. I grow too many plants to have to replace them every 4-5 crops. I think they are better, as is anything that allows more air to the root system.

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Make your own fabric pots its way cheaper and cost effective.

Opm said:

Hard to water the smart pots. It sometimes just runs off through the side instead of down into the soil. Especially late in flower when the dirt is full of roots.

These are my new favorite pots. Warrior Pots!
View attachment 2616922

Best of both worlds. Easy to clean. The root balls just fall out of them with no effort. Lots of air to the root and easy to water.

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I water the fabric ones only from the bottom, like a flood and drain except they wick only what that need and the roots explode from the air water ratio. I had the same problem with the water dripping out the sides so started the bottom and it works good.
Those warrior pot look pretty awesome, i seen a vid guy did a side by side and the warrior pot i think won. Ill find the link for you guys its a must see for pots. Plus this guys channel is cool he does lots of comparisons of growing stuff.

Hey guys check out this video of pot comparisons, i know he's not growing cannabis but this dude does good informative videos.

Old post but i dont care. The price of fabric pots aside...they are well worth it in my opinion. They all do basically the same thing...they prevent roots from circling the bottom like traditional plastic pots thus preventing root binding and helps prevent roots rotting. The major roots stay in the middle or sweet spot of the medium. I like them. I dont really see a huge top growth advantage but the plants seem to "like" this pot much better. You can get away with a smaller size pot also...especially with coco coir as the medium. They breathe better too. Be prepared to water much more frequently. They are ideal for a simple drip manifold top feed system. I like the ones with handles for easy transport. They take to a washing machine easy in between crops to rid them of accumulated salt build up. For tying down you can poke small hole in the "lip" of the fabric or a better alternative is getting a pack or two of small alligator clips with an eyelet hole from Home Depot. The are handy for flood and drain tables too....where you can keep a coco/perlite/hydroton medium from washing out during the flood cycles. They make them as flood table "liners" now too for you raised bed type growers. I got several brands. The Aurora Root Pots being the cheapest but no handles and the size is slightly smaller than the more robust and thicker fabric of a Geopot or Smart Pot. Lately I have been stocking up on Phat Sacks with handles from HTG Supply. They are inexpensive compared to other brands that have handles. Swore by 2 gallons for a few years. Switched up to 3 gallon ones lately...I have noticed a slight increase in yield with the threes. Ultimately I want to source a consistent supplier of coco coir slabs which is a whole different dealy. Just for the simple fact that fungus gnats have a hard time setting up shop in coir slabs. Again. ...this is an old post...but these are my opinions on fabric root pruning pots. Grow on!!!

I'm happy with plastic pots I use 5 gallon pots to flower and always happy.

I germ in 1/2gal fabric pots I get for a buck, and transplant to 5 or 7 gal fabric. Roots touch sides and bottom in two days after transplant! I've had explosive root development with fabric and mykos. use mykos at germination and transplant, it's crazy fast.

MeekMill said:

Hey guys can you vote and comment if yo can on which is better and why, i dont think £5 is that bad for it being washable

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I just bought some smart pots, which are fabric. They will replace my old school square plastic 15ltr. I got 10x 18ltr for £21 from fleabay. Bought 20 of them. They are roughly the same width and a tiny bit higher so I can still fit the same amount per m2.

bottletoke said:

so whats the theory? why is it better? more air???

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The theory is air pruning at a cheaper cost than what ever those air pruning plastic things cost that are expensive.
Also apparently no circling of root system, once they reach the edge they air prune and stop and plant shoots out another root. At least that's what I believe to be the idea.

Looking to do my first grow this summer outdoors and came upon this thread as I was researching and had some questions:

1. How often do people generally have to water when using plastic vs fabric? I'll be taking a couple trips this summer around 1 week each so this is potentially an issue.
2. From what I've read, I'm probably looking for a 3-5 gallon pot if I want plants to be no larger than 4 feet in height. Is a 5 gallon plastic pot the same as a 5 gallon fabric pot? I'm wondering if there's a difference since the soil from fabric pots tends to dry up sooner.
3. Is there enough runoff from fabric pots to allow you to measure ph levels?
4. Do you think one type of pot is better than the other for a first time grower?

greyduck said:

Looking to do my first grow this summer outdoors and came upon this thread as I was researching and had some questions:

1. How often do people generally have to water when using plastic vs fabric? I'll be taking a couple trips this summer around 1 week each so this is potentially an issue.
2. From what I've read, I'm probably looking for a 3-5 gallon pot if I want plants to be no larger than 4 feet in height. Is a 5 gallon plastic pot the same as a 5 gallon fabric pot? I'm wondering if there's a difference since the soil from fabric pots tends to dry up sooner.
3. Is there enough runoff from fabric pots to allow you to measure ph levels?
4. Do you think one type of pot is better than the other for a first time grower?

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1. The fabric pots do dry out faster. Exactly how much faster depends on your temp, humidity, airflow and medium. Coco dries wicked fast in them for sure.
2. 5 gallons is 5 gallons.
3. You get just as much runoff, it's fabric, water can flow through it anywhere.
4. I used fabric for my first grow. Better? I honestly don't know. I went with them due to the hype.

all nursery pots use a horticultural rating (1 gallon = 0.71 gallons) I have used both fabric and plastic pots and have not seen a difference in the way plants grow or produce' plastic holds water longer but it boils down to personal choice.you could set your pots in a tray of water to keep them moist longer when your away and can't water them

greyduck said:

Looking to do my first grow this summer outdoors and came upon this thread as I was researching and had some questions:

1. How often do people generally have to water when using plastic vs fabric? I'll be taking a couple trips this summer around 1 week each so this is potentially an issue.
2. From what I've read, I'm probably looking for a 3-5 gallon pot if I want plants to be no larger than 4 feet in height. Is a 5 gallon plastic pot the same as a 5 gallon fabric pot? I'm wondering if there's a difference since the soil from fabric pots tends to dry up sooner.
3. Is there enough runoff from fabric pots to allow you to measure ph levels?
4. Do you think one type of pot is better than the other for a first time grower?

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I've grow in both and I would vote for fabric. Plants were much happier.
Depending on what type of soil you use, consider blumats for your watering needs.
I used to set up timers, etc if I had to go on a trip. In my old life, I might have to leave in a few hours notice and be gone for days. I wish I had found the blumat system back then.

https://blumatsystems.com/

Several growers on RIU use them, many in the Organics section.
WE

Thank you I appreciate the replies. Blumat system looks interesting I'll have to dig into it some more to see how it handles situations where you need to adjust the water ph levels.

BillDance said:

I like the smart pots. A little tougher to lst but girls seem to like em just fine.

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What I do is put a safety pin into the fabric and then run either a pipe cleaner in or string through the pin and tie it off; whichever is easier.

Alligator clips work good too. I just pop holes in the very top with scissors anymore.

greg nr said:

What I do is put a safety pin into the fabric and then run either a pipe cleaner in or string through the pin and tie it off; whichever is easier.

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Man, you guys makes this way too complicated. I just use ordinary gardening wire, and just stab one end through the fabric and bend it up, then wrap the other end around the branch.