DIY Air Pruning Pot Experiment - Pictures

Thought you might be interested in how I made Mine.

https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/389656-diy-fabric-pots-jumpman-pipe.html

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Thanks PurpleRhinooceros! What a fantastic design! I love the cuff at the top for rigidity.

This is a science thread, so while it may seem like we're tearing your fantastic creation (and it is fantastic) apart --- we are. It's our sincerest form of flattery to be interested enough in you design to want to know how it works and if it can be improved as we all hope that the baton we are carrying for a brief while will be improved by the next person.

So shake the fucking sand from your panties if you find yourself momentarily taken back by any of these questions, I wouldn't have asked the one if what you accomplished wasn't so impressive:

- I'm interested in the watering difference because of evaporation through the side wall of the fabric - how quickly does the side of the root ball dry out?

- How much more often would you water? 3 times for every 2 with a plastic pot? 4 times for 3?

- Do you adapt you nutrient concentration?

- Do you notice nute burn on the leaf tips?

- Do you use them as liners?

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I'll have more questions as I think about what we can do with this ....

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Fantastic job, thanks for posting the link!!

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I found some 7 inch felt buckets at Target during the Halloween clearance. Looks pretty legit with a cute lil ghost on the side. lol but in all seriousness, it seems the felt is doing an amazing job at pruning the roots, not one had broken through and the plant is looking fantastic! thank you again Hobbes!!!

I was just wondering, would there be a way to scale this down, for stealth growers like me? i read earlier that you were making some "eternity pots", and i like the concept, i just can;t picture it. do you think this would work for a 1-2 gallon pot, with CCOB?

NickNasty said:

I was looking around on the net and found a thread of a lady who was making DIY Air Pots out that thicker landscaping fabric you have she was just sewing it into a bag shape and using that she said she had be using them for awhile and they were doing exactly what they were supposed to do. So if people have the landscape fabric and a sewing machine they could just do that.You could sew in handles if you wanted. I wish I had bookmarked the thread cause I can't seem to find it now. I also was thinking of other stuff you could line like the 5 gallon buckets you were using and thought milk crates might work out well.

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The 10 gallon Wonder Pot fits perfectly in a milk crate. Put the pot in the crate, dump in about 1 cu yard of grow medium and you have a perfect home for your girls. I've never had healtheir plants since I started using these.
http://www.thewonderpot.com/about-wonder-pot.html#square

View attachment 1433420 I did it for you hobbes

The end of RIU and the Attitude has begun eh my friend?

Very smart way and will probably work awesomely well...very very good

Contact me if you will

Namaste'

Flowering plants came around after the dinosaurs... Crazy fact to me.
_funk

Hobbes said:

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by Poppinfresh

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What is Root air pruning?


"An air-pruning propagation system is a low-cost, efficient method of propagating cuttings, seedlings or container plants for restoration projects. Air pruning happens naturally when roots are exposed to air in the absence of high humidity. The roots are effectively “burned” off, causing the plant to constantly produce new and healthy branching roots. If roots are not exposed to air, they continue to grow around the container in a constricted pattern. The roots may spiral, twist, kink or become strangled. When the plant is later installed it will likely fail to establish a normal root structure, and instead will have reduced uptake of water and nutrients. Eventually abnormal growth should be obvious and could cause the plant to fail. Damaged root systems also cause leaves to turn yellow or brown, shrivel or drop. Healthy, highly branched root structures allow a plant to more efficiently uptake water and nutrients while increasing growth and overall plant health." ( This information is not my own it was taken from Guidebook for Native Plant Propagation, Author: Julia Walker)

Advantages of air-pruning:

· promotes branched root systems

· encourages new roots to sprout

· prevents roots from spiraling

· prevents plants from becoming pot-bound

· plants may remain in pots, plugs or plant bands longer

Examples of natural air pruning pots:

The Super Roots AirPot. Also a great video to watch How air pots work.

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RootMaker system:

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Here is a great picture that shows the efficenty of this system. RootMaker also makes liners and indivdual pots. Check it out http://www.rootmaker.com/rootmakersystem.php

These are just a few examples. Once you get the concept of it you could easily and cheaply design a system on your own.

Now onto chemical root pruning. This thread off of RIU shows Mogie using Griffin's Spin-Out. If you read the thread and look at the pics the stuff really works. A word of caution on chemical root pruining. This study done by, Carl Whitcomb, Ph.D. titled "Improving Containers Copper is Not the Answer"

"Improving Containers Copper is Not the Answer" questions whether or not copper spayed on the inside effects the plants growth. One big idea he proposed was "Mycorrhizal fungi that aid growth of most plants are also killed along with
other beneficial microorganisms" inside copper sprayed pots. This is disturbing considering how much the micro herd is needed to get full lush plants in organic soil growing.


This link:http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/50...BitchRoots.jpg shows roots growing in a TAG environment. TAG stands for True Aeroponic Growing. The branching on the root structure looks similar to what you are trying to archive with air pruning.

I am doing all this research because I will be doing a Hydroponic/Organic Soil showdown. I will atempt to grow one female specimine in an undecided hydro setup, and one in organic soil ( either foxfarms or my own mix). I will use the same genetics either from seed or from clones taken at the same time from the same mother plant.​

By doing these test's I hope to put to rest the debate whether hydro or soil is better. Now when i say "better" I mean:

• Better or equal yeild
• Better flavor
• More bag appeal
• A more natural experience

To test the "Flavor" portion of the test will grow a second set of plants. These will be tomatoes. Everybody loves tomatoes, and i can get a unbiased response from friends and family. I will still have a flavor test for the meds, but the test subjects wont know whether they are smoking hydro or organic soil buds. Neither will the person who gives the test.

This all started when I saw this:

Granted much of its size can be attributed to its genetics. But the fact still remain it was grown in the soil with organic teas and fertilizer.

The earth is 4.5 billion years old. With that much time for plants to evolve they are perfect. Plant life is estimated to be around 425 million years old. With 425 million years of evolution under their belts plants are perfectly adapted to their environment. To my knowledge all strains of Cannabis are found growing in soil and not water. Since after all those years wild Cannabis has chosen to grow in soil over water, soil must be the BEST place fo it to grow. I doubt whether 425 million years of evolution can be beat by NASA scientist and their hydroponic/aeroponics systems. Mabey those systems are best for growing in confinded spaces like the space station.

Something else interesting. I know you have all seen movies and pictures depiction dinosaurs. Well did you every look at the plants? About 300 million years ago during the Triassic period the estimated Co2 concentration was around 2000-1800 ppm. With an average temp of 68F. Plants and trees were HUGE around this time. They had to be to feed the huge dinos that were herbivores. 68F and 1500 ppm co2 are almost the ideal ranges indoor growers look for. Take a look:

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SUPER ROOTS AIR POTS ALL DAY !!!! i use them and love them. !

Not sure if this thread is still active but thought I'd try a post anyway. This has been an excellent read. If someone is doing a scrog in a small confined space, you would not be able to have the outer pail (removing and replacing). I had thought to perhaps try this anyway, and simply water more. I had planned a central pail with bubbler and pump the aerated water to each plant continuously. Or perhaps a timer for interval watering. Since the water does not have nutes, no risk of nute buildup from overwatering / feeding.

Either way, if I did this I would have constantly exposed holes. I'm not seing this as a bad thing but hoped for some feedback.

Thanks for the excellent thread.

Hey Hobbes. Incredible thread, I have to try this out. I was wondering if you ever did your comparison to the commercial air-pruning pots.

I like the thread...great idea,...But I am not so sure about having the outside bucket...I am in a tight space and it seems like it would be a bit of pai to keep removing outer bucket, no?

I maybe interested in the smart bag, wonder bag, etc. inside a milk crate....Has anyone done something similar to this with good results ?

Also I transplanted fast growing plant from party cup to 2 gallon,..roots were way spiraling...In only a
couple days
roots were coming out the bottom of that pot...that was about 8 days ago or so....ANOTHER QUESTION: I am pretty sure roots are spiraling now...Would it be
beneficial to go to some kind of air pruning system at this point ? or is it too late ? thanks...peace and +rep

If anyone's interested, I'm going to be running a https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/465519-air-pot-vs-standard-pot.html experiment. Just waiting for my clones to develop roots.

Okay i read this whole thread and enjoyed it. I have thought of employing the method of cutting my own holes. I have cut holes near the bottom(on top of typical drainage) but now as I filter in a new cycle, I'm gonna cut the buckets to swiss cheese! I'm sorry but i really dont see the purpose of the outer bucket and physically breaking the roots. Just holes in the bucket would do the same thing wouldnt it? just seems like added, not needed steps/work. I love the thread, thank you.

Resurrected, found it doing a Google search......

Hobbes said:

.....Now onto chemical root pruning. This thread off of RIU shows Mogie using Griffin's Spin-Out. If you read the thread and look at the pics the stuff really works. A word of caution on chemical root pruining. This study done by, Carl Whitcomb, Ph.D. titled "Improving Containers Copper is Not the Answer"

"Improving Containers Copper is Not the Answer" questions whether or not copper spayed on the inside effects the plants growth. One big idea he proposed was "Mycorrhizal fungi that aid growth of most plants are also killed along with
other beneficial microorganisms" inside copper sprayed pots. This is disturbing considering how much the micro herd is needed to get full lush plants in organic soil growing.

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1. That is not Mogie's garden, it is mine. I was the first to use Griffin's Spin-out on cannabis FWIW. Here's my Spin-Out thread which was first published about 6 years ago at the now defunct Overgrow site - https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/9114-spin-out-chemical-root-pruning.html I still use Griffin's on most everything including edibles like citrus trees in large pots.

2. Dr. Whitcomb is a very knowledgeable man and I have talked to him several times, but by stating "a big idea" about the use of Cu paints he's directing potential customers away from a product that has been used successfully for decades. I doubt if he has ever laid his hands on Cu pruning products like Griffin's much less looked at the myco colony using a microscope after a plant was in a Cu painted pot and root tip pruned by the Cu ions over a period of time. I doubt seriously if the Cu kills anything as the ions are located along the side and bottom walls of the pot, not along the root shaft nor found in the potting mix. It's all in the context of how its used and is designed. I'll have to discuss this with him.

Due to their unique design Rootmaker products are the best I've found doing my research and inquiring at other gardening forums. Air pots look good too but are quite expensive - http://www.growers-inc.com/air-pots.html Except for the fabric type Rootmaker products direct the roots outside of the pot because of the unique structure and pores of the sidewalls. I just received a 18" X 100' roll of Rootbuilder and will custom build my own pots. Rootmaker also makes many excellent products including fabric, plastic injected molded pots, seeding trays, bottoms, etc.

Uncle Ben

chasmtz said:

Okay i read this whole thread and enjoyed it. I have thought of employing the method of cutting my own holes. I have cut holes near the bottom(on top of typical drainage) but now as I filter in a new cycle, I'm gonna cut the buckets to swiss cheese! I'm sorry but i really dont see the purpose of the outer bucket and physically breaking the roots. Just holes in the bucket would do the same thing wouldnt it? just seems like added, not needed steps/work. I love the thread, thank you.

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Holes don't direct the roots. A root will continue in a circular pattern until it is terminated or re-directed. What you want to accomplish is to start and finish with a radial root structure configuration, like spokes on a bicycle tire. The jest is don't try to jerry rig this thing. Buy a specially designed product that "grabs" the roots and directs them out of the container.

UB

Hobbes this thread is Genius!! And everyone else that has contributed, Thanks!! Im definitly going to go and make some air pruning/root trapping buckets today. cant wait to see the difference!

Burlap my friend, burlap. It's strong, breathable and perfect for lining custom plastic buckets like yours for air-pruning and trapping.

If you really want air pruning to work you should use pots that direct roots outside of the container wall.

bump an old thread!
if i was to do the "bucket with holes inside another bucket" air pruning method, what would happen if i just left it in there and didnt take it out. sometimes its hard to get to plants in the back when theres retic hose everywhere.
also the option of "bucket with holes" WITHOUT a second bucket, did you find the evaporation unreasonable or just didnt try it? that would also work for me