Smart pots??

Ive had a few plants in smart pots and noticed that the outside of the pot dries out much quicker than the middle. when transplanting into a smart pot, i feel the pot dries out too fast for the roots to spread efficiently into the soil aound the transplanted area. i know the benefit of these pots is that it allows airflow to the root system, but do the cons outweigh the pros?? any one else using smart pots out there? opinions?? mahalo and aloha!

ramie808 said:

Ive had a few plants in smart pots and noticed that the outside of the pot dries out much quicker than the middle. when transplanting into a smart pot, i feel the pot dries out too fast for the roots to spread efficiently into the soil aound the transplanted area. i know the benefit of these pots is that it allows airflow to the root system, but do the cons outweigh the pros?? any one else using smart pots out there? opinions?? mahalo and aloha!

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I'm using the poor man's version of the smart post. And I fucking LOVE them! They allow me to grow a larger plant, in a smaller pot. They also allow a higher nutrient uptake. Because the soil dries out faster it means you need to water the plant more. And if you fallow a feeding schedual like myself (nutrient/plain water/nutrients/plain water ect..) by the time you are ready to pull the 'chop' the plant has taken up alot more nutrients than a plant in a NON-SMART pot would. Thus, more/bigger buds! What these pots also do is stop the roots from spiraling around the bottom and sides of the pot. Because the root tips grow out the little holes, die off, and then branch off INTO the soil, instead of just circling around the side/bottom of the pot. Does what I say make sense to you?

Here are the pots I use:


EDIT: I just looked up the smart pots... They aren't what I origionally thought they were. I'd think they'd look to acomplish the same sorta thing with them though. Eh, oh well. I'm not deleting everything I just wrote... lol

EDIT: I just looked up the smart pots... They aren't what I origionally thought they were. I'd think they'd look to acomplish the same sorta thing with them though. Eh, oh well. I'm not deleting everything I just wrote... lol[/QUOTE]

LMAO!!! thanks for the reply... just a question< do you have a hard time rooting in the new soil after transplanting? do you just have to water more around the edges? i like the concept of the smart pot, but one of my old timer grower friends said the smart pots are no good. maybe hes just old school! i also see that you only feed every other watering. is that kind of a rule of thumb? mahalo! (p.s.... love the handle. gotta change my shit, its so lame!! lol)

Smart pots are an excellent way to grow: the added aeration, water flow control, and the inability of plants to get root bound are major benefits to any grower. However your right about the sides drying out quicker than the middle of the pot, that's not a major concern as long as you have a reasonable water/feeding schedule and the roots don't totally dry out (plus MJ roots don't like to be saturated with water and a little drying out is healthy). I grow in the 200 gallon pots and they have treated me well.

purplegorillas said:

Smart pots are an excellent way to grow: the added aeration, water flow control, and the inability of plants to get root bound are major benefits to any grower. However your right about the sides drying out quicker than the middle of the pot, that's not a major concern as long as you have a reasonable water/feeding schedule and the roots don't totally dry out (plus MJ roots don't like to be saturated with water and a little drying out is healthy). I grow in the 200 gallon pots and they have treated me well.

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200 gallon pots?? how big does a plant get in a pot that big?? u make my 5 gallon pot have little man complex!!

where do you get those?!?!

how do you deal with the edges drying out quicker?? I just ordered a 5 gallon

I have one, three, and five gallon smart pots. So far they are working very well. I think you need crate or other porous floor because they need air to air prune the roots. This week I found two five gallon smart pots that had been touching in the grow room. When I moved one of the plants I could see where the roots from each plant had grown through the bag and into its neighbor.

haha persistent roots huh? So you haven't had problems with them drying out unevenly? What do you use to collect the runoff?

napa23 said:

haha persistent roots huh? So you haven't had problems with them drying out unevenly? What do you use to collect the runoff?

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I water them with a small amount of water, give them some time, and then water them again. I should water them 45 minutes apart to give the first cup a chance to soak into the soil, but I have to run my plants at night to combat temps so that isn't always possible.

My plants are sitting on a rubbermaid container right now so the run off just pools into the tub and I either collect it or just let it get soaked up. I am definitely building a tiered shelf out of crates once I can find the crates.

how much are they

5 bucks a piece for 3 gallons.

They rock, little pricey, hard to reuse...but none the less worth it. Great for soil and hydro applications alike!

hard to reuse? someguy i just checked out one of your grows. I see you're using smart pots and the roots are coming out the bottom? Are they exposed to light, cause i know that's not good?

that was just because of the plastic bags around the bottoms of them. Normally they will be air pruned... there's a few under the pots, but I don't worry about them too much.

hard to reuse bc the roots grow all through them... hard to clean them and you don't want nasty pathogens left behind, best to just buy new ones.

Just turn them inside out and put them in the washing machine on gentle without any detergent.

thalboy said:

Just turn them inside out and put them in the washing machine on gentle without any detergent.

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I used oxyclean with decent results. still some leftover though...never like new and I'm a perfectionist sooo...

anyone have problems with transplanting? it seems like the main root system just doesnt want to spread to the dry outside layer no matter how much i water. the pots easily run out the sides when i try to water more around the edges

ramie808 said:

i also see that you only feed every other watering. is that kind of a rule of thumb? mahalo! (p.s.... love the handle. gotta change my shit, its so lame!! lol)

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Yea man. You don't want to feed every watering, because that'll burn your girls. But if you do it every other watering you should be good. So when you just use plain ol water again, the nutes left in the soil from last feeding are getting used up.

ramie808 said:

200 gallon pots?? how big does a plant get in a pot that big?? u make my 5 gallon pot have little man complex!!

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My plants have gotten up to 15 feet tall and a little under a 30 foot circumference when i was growing a particular sativa strain, now i probably average around 12ft tall and under a 25 foot circumference. And to answer someone elses question you can get the all size smart pots @ smartpots.com, the sizes range from 1 gallon to 400 gallon sizes.