What Pots should I grow In....Smart Pots or Super Roots Pots???

Ok I have had good results just transplanting from smaller into larger plastic pots. However I have been thinking of upgrading to smart or fabric pots. I have a few stupid questions. When you water smart pots, does it just drain out of the bottom. Once a plant is in a smart pot, can it be transplanted into a bigger pot easily? What is up with those ugly looking Super Roots pots? Are they better than smart pots, and if so why?

I've been trialling fabric pots just now. Having inspected the root balls on 2 so far, I am very impressed. Compared to a standard pot which restricts the roots, the fabric pot really does encourage a nice fibrous root system. The increased airation is evident and plants are very happy. Yes the water does flow out the bottom - and sides too if not careful with your watering. I have mine on a raised mesh to allow plenty of air circulation and opportunity for run off. I've only used 3gal pots as a final transplant, but would be nervous about transplanting out of them - I guess it depends on the pots. I have seen some which look easy to roll down/off root ball, mine aren't so flexible. Hope that helps

Yes that does help. I was thinking of 3-5 gallon size. That is a nice idea about the raised mesh. I like to make sure my pot drains well too and the plant doesnt sit in residual water. I imagine the soil in air pots may dry a little faster too.

I could Google and find out, but instead I'll ask.... fabric pots as in kinda like a hessian sack, or pillow case kind of afair?

I like both the fabric smartpots and the textured poly air-pots. I have the ones made by rootmaker (rootbuilder 2), so no screened/hole-filled bottom, but I do like how they work. They're particularly good if you have limited flowering space, and need to keep some girls in veg a tad longer without fear of root-binding. both the fabric and plastic types work on the same principle of air-pruning roots to prevent the typical spiraling that occurs in regular plastic pots. Personally, i was very impressed with the root structure from my 1 gal air pots and that's why i went ahead and got some 5/7 gallon ones.
be easy,

I'll also chime in for Air-pots...I am only trying my third grow, and first with air-pots but my plants have exhibited very good growth

I have had no problems whatsoever growing in standard nursery pots. I tried a round using some 5 gallon fabric pots and saw no change other than they are a pain in the ass to LST with and I had to water them more often(not really such a good thing with super soil). A bit of an extra pain to clean them between grows as well. They will eventually wear down, unlike a plastic pot. The only thing that I found especially nice is that they were easy to store. I have yet to try one of the Air Pots, mainly because of the price, so I reserve my judgement on those. I don't know about all this talk about root structure and what not, I am coming from a simple yield-centric point of view and in my experience have found no measurable difference in the yields of bag pots vs nursery pots..

Southerner said:

I have had no problems whatsoever growing in standard nursery pots. ...
I don't know about all this talk about root structure and what not, I am coming from a simple yield-centric point of view and in my experience have found no measurable difference in the yields of bag pots vs nursery pots..

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Fair call and I'll be able to make some sort of a judgement - I'm running 3 clones ATM, two in 3gal fabric, 1 in equivalent more or less plastic. I'm not 100% sold on the fabric pots, cleaning them is tricky - roots do grow into the fabric (of mine anyhow) and not 100% on best way to remove. Doesn't seem like they'll last more than a few rotations.

In regards to nursery pots, I like a 'euro pot' style, with plenty of drainage holes on the flat underside of the pot, and not the side squares around the bottom face. They are also slightly tapered so allow for easy transplanting through veg. Will reserve judgment before buying larger fabric pots.

Thought I'd update my previous post. I had to pull out those 3 plants for various reasons. However it gave me a chance to inspect roots and make a judgement of fabric pots vs std plastic. The three plants were all the same cuts, veged much the same way for the same period, and were transplanted into final pots 1 week prior to flip. 5 weeks into flower is when I pulled them out. Sifting through the root balls, the two fabric potted plants had a very dense fibrous root system which filled the entire fabric pot, pushing through and growing through the material. Compared with the plastic pot, which showed the roots has found the outer limit of the pot size and had begun to spiral/become bound by it. Having sifted out the roots to reuse the coco, I found that a significant portion of the inner medium in the plastic potted plant to be rather vacant of roots. Nothing like the fibrous mesh I found in the fabric pots.

However the above ground shoots on all 3 plants were much the same (size, development etc). As I couldn't flowered full term, I cannot give a 100% answer on which is better, but can vouch for fabric pots increasing root density for sure. And if the saying of 'more roots = more fruit' is true, then one can draw your own conclusions. With any luck I'll get a better/final result next run.

I'm wondering if 9 1/2 gallon fabric pots can be placed close to each other inside a raised bed Tupperware container. The reason I ask, I have 18 seedlings in 16 oz solo cups that I plan on transplanting to the fiber pots. I use a 4x8 t5 and two of the Tupperware container fit under the t5. Do these fabric pots need space around them?

Any thoughts/help is greatly appreciated

Forgot to add....these will be planted outside ~ June 1

I don't see why not. I'd be comfortable packing fabric pots right up against each other (not factoring shoot size). Giving them some space wouldn't hurt thought as you want air movement. Keeping them raised is an idea (what I did) to allow air from underneath, as well as run off. But they should be fine on a flat surface outside like you suggest.

cannaculturalist said:

I don't see why not. I'd be comfortable packing fabric pots right up against each other (not factoring shoot size). Giving them some space wouldn't hurt thought as you want air movement. Keeping them raised is an idea (what I did) to allow air from underneath, as well as run off. But they should be fine on a flat surface outside like you suggest.

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Do you use perlite on the bottom of the Tupperware for air circulation?

That would probably help - provided it was coarse perlite. I have mine sitting on a mesh rack, so it has full air movement underneath. If you put your fabric pots on a inch or two thick layer of perlite ontop of the Tupperware, you should be fine - but may lead to algal growth if the perlite gets a lot of light (unless you rinse it every so often to avoid nutrient build up?) I'm not sure on that though. If it's just for veg, you'll be fine as you uppot etc

Rootmaker solid plastic pots are the best. Look like a upside down tiered cake. Directs roots to holes to air trim. Controls roots to the point you can fit nine 5 gallon pots under one 1000 watt light in a 5x5 area. 4' tall. They make them in 1, 3 and 5 gallon. You can fit 16, 3 gallon pots under one light at 2.5 feet tall or taller. Keeps the branches growing straight up.

cannaculturalist said:

Sifting through the root balls, the two fabric potted plants had a very dense fibrous root system which filled the entire fabric pot, pushing through and growing through the material. Compared with the plastic pot, which showed the roots has found the outer limit of the pot size and had begun to spiral/become bound by it. Having sifted out the roots to reuse the coco, I found that a significant portion of the inner medium in the plastic potted plant to be rather vacant of roots. Nothing like the fibrous mesh I found in the fabric pots.
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Whats happening is in the fabric pots, when the roots reach the edge, they get air pruned and stop growing, this causes NEW roots to start growing from the inside out this happens over and over. In the plastic pots, the roots hit the edge and spin around but new roots do not start. That is why the middle is so root free.
Keeping this in mind, your soil hold the nuts and the water and as you saw the middle of the soil in the fabric pots was used, and was not used in the plastic pot.
Take that as you will, just a head up as to what is happening with the roots.