Airpots and Supersoil...

It looks like you may have the pots assembled incorrectly. There should be two rows at the top of closed cones so that water is retained...and it may be inside out as well... Here are assembly instructions: http://www.superoots.com/pdfs/Air-Pot-assembly-print.pdf

I use airpots now and love 'em. Do you use any surfactant/wetting agent when you water? That helps make sure that water disperses thru the soil and doesn't just channel down and out. Here's one that I use at about a 1/2T per gallon...so a gallon lasts for a while: http://greenplantfuel.com/products/liquid-yucca-extract/

JonnyBlunt88 said:

I've been using Subcool's recipe for a while now and recently changed to Ocean Forrest as a base soil. Although I'm getting better results overall, I've noticed the plants in the 8 gal. airpots are showing nute defs much earlier and the final product has been much worse than the bud grown in the normal pots. Water does run through the airpots faster than normal pots, but it retains a lot of it too so I can't imagine this would cause it to flush out the SS 2-3 weeks earlier. Soil PH is the same and all other conditions are similar so I've narrowed it down to the pots. I'm considering watering the air-pots less than the others so there is less run-off or just plugging most of the holes on the bottom (which is a lot). These were expensive pots so I'd rather find a solution than reinvest in more, so if anyone has any theories or experience with this please chime in. Here is a picture of the plants... you can see the Space Dawg girl in the upper left has yellowing and dying leaves while the other are still mostly green.

This is what the air-pot looks like for those who are unfamiliar with them.

Click to expand...

Air pot is upside down looking good

rare sent using rollitup app.......

I am no longer a fan of aerating pots for flowering plants in organic soil. I used to use 7-gal Smart Pots, but I noticed that I was essentially wasting several gallons of soil around the edges of the pot. The soil around the edges dried out so quickly that it could not support healthy roots or sustain a healthy soil food web (microbes essentially die off or go dormant when their environment is too dry). The edges would dry to a crisp while the center of the pot remained wet.

I now use 10-gal plastic nursery pots with a 2" layer of orchid bark mulch on top retain moisture. Now my whole 10 gallons of soil dries out evenly, my plants are MUCH happier, and my garden is much more forgiving. If I water a day late, my plants don't droop whatsoever, whereas with the Smart Pots they'd start to wilt if I waited even half a day too long. A plant wilting in a Smart Pot is a BAD thing; if the overall moisture level in the pot is low enough to cause wilting, you can be sure the edges are so dried out that the fragile root tips in that area are actually dying off. The dying roots will start to manifest themselves as mysterious deficiencies as the compromised root system struggles to uptake what the plant needs. This is especially problematic during bloom, when the plant is not focussing much energy on producing new, healthy roots.

This is just my experience with using Smart Pots during bloom; take it or leave it. I still use 2-gal Smart Pots during early veg to take advantage of the air root pruning benefits at a time when the plant is putting LOTS of energy into building roots. You don't prune your canopy during mid to late bloom, why would you prune your roots during that time?

I do the opposite. 2 gal plastic nursery pots for veg and 7 gal smart pots in flower. My plants in smart pots don't wilt until 2 days after the soil is dry. I water every 4-5 days. It takes a week to get droopy. My plastic pots wilt after 3 days from water. Yet the bottom soil is still wet. Why the rest is completely dry. I don't like nursery pots for flower. The bottom layers never completely dry.

I don't like air pots either. I agree with uneven drying and wasted soil and water. I think they would do better if they had more holes but much smaller holes.

Thanks for the info... I can see how the reservoir at the top of the pots would retain water if one hand-fed quickly, however I do it slowly to avoid losing any water out of the sides. Either way I'll correct this and see if this was the issue. I agree with everything you said Sativa and am already planning on getting some of those 10 gallon pots.. maybe a nursery would want to trade some used pots for the air-pots.

hyroot said:

I do the opposite. 2 gal plastic nursery pots for veg and 7 gal smart pots in flower. My plants in smart pots don't wilt until 2 days after the soil is dry. I water every 4-5 days. It takes a week to get droopy. My plastic pots wilt after 3 days from water. Yet the bottom soil is still wet. Why the rest is completely dry. I don't like nursery pots for flower. The bottom layers never completely dry.

I don't like air pots either. I agree with uneven drying and wasted soil and water. I think they would do better if they had more holes but much smaller holes.

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Interesting... I guess it depends on the situation. My 7-gal smart pots were needing water every other day, but I do have a LOT of air circulation, both above and below the canopy.

For what it's worth, I actually don't want any part of my pot to dry out anywhere near completely. I find my plants are much happier in soil that stays moist all the time.

Spicy its probably air flow, rh, etc... I've been using A/c all the time until 3 days ago when it finally started getting cold at night. I have an intake. I haven't set up an exhaust yet. I'm waiting to get new fans and filters... Probably after I set up an exhaust. Things may change.... When I do water. The humidity does go up more fabric pots than with plastic pots. From aeration..

Subcools recipe = stoner with spices

What if you drench with aloe or dish soap before watering?! Yucca in the mix would help with slow watering. Maybe hydroton will help...imagining plinko from Price is Right. I believe in the science behind air pruning. There's gotta be a way to make these work.

RedCarpetMatches said:

Subcools recipe = stoner with spices

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I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but am assuming your saying there are better mix's... I started using his recipe when I first got into organics and it has been a good mix, but I'm not naïve enough think its the best and am mainly using it because I only buy TGA genetics (which have been proven to grow well in SS). I'm not knowledgeable enough in organics to make my own recipe, so is there a prevalent mix on-line you would suggest based on personal experience to give me an idea of what a contemporary organic mix should look like? I have to go with what I have now, but am always willing to try something new for the sake of better meds.

RedCarpetMatches said:

What if you drench with aloe or dish soap before watering?! Yucca in the mix would help with slow watering. Maybe hydroton will help...imagining plinko from Price is Right. I believe in the science behind air pruning. There's gotta be a way to make these work.

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I want to believe in it too, but even when I did have the air-pots in the correct position (doi) the final product was not notably better than that grown in the normal pots. I'm sure many will say different, but Sativa might have said it correctly when he stated they are not effective for maintaining even moisture as the soil near the holes is drying out too quickly.

RedCarpetMatches said:

What if you drench with aloe or dish soap before watering?! Yucca in the mix would help with slow watering. Maybe hydroton will help...imagining plinko from Price is Right. I believe in the science behind air pruning. There's gotta be a way to make these work.

Click to expand...

I am definitely a fan of root pruning, I just do it during veg, when the roots are doing most of their growing. Root pruning is essentially killing root tips (drying them out) to encourage branching, just like topping a plant. I'd rather not do that during bloom. You top plants in early veg, while they are resilient and growing quickly. I think that's also the best time to air root prune.

Just my $0.02.

JonnyBlunt88 said:

I've been using Subcool's recipe for a while now and recently changed to Ocean Forrest as a base soil. Although I'm getting better results overall, I've noticed the plants in the 8 gal. airpots are showing nute defs much earlier and the final product has been much worse than the bud grown in the normal pots. Water does run through the airpots faster than normal pots, but it retains a lot of it too so I can't imagine this would cause it to flush out the SS 2-3 weeks earlier. Soil PH is the same and all other conditions are similar so I've narrowed it down to the pots. I'm considering watering the air-pots less than the others so there is less run-off or just plugging most of the holes on the bottom (which is a lot). These were expensive pots so I'd rather find a solution than reinvest in more, so if anyone has any theories or experience with this please chime in. Here is a picture of the plants... you can see the Space Dawg girl in the upper left has yellowing and dying leaves while the other are still mostly green.

This is what the air-pot looks like for those who are unfamiliar with them.

Click to expand...

My 1st grow but long time gardener. I decided to try air pots but the bottoms made me nervous with letting everything run out so I lined the bottom & one inch up on the inside with circles cut from extra fabric grow bags I had. Allowed for same drainage & water retention as grow bags but Pruning effect throughout 90% of the pot. I do have to water more frequently it seems (I'm used to outdoor growing in Fab pots). In a cpl weeks I'll need to upside to final.pots & I'm undecided between 10 gal Fabric or 7 gal air pots. I do use Foxfarm soils, worm castings, & Perlite for grow medium & I'm leaning towards trying to accomplish living soils.
Would love an update on how this grow turned out? Thanks in advance for any input!