Why aren't fabric bags cone shaped.

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
Nothing, but the OCD in me really likes the idea of a square shape in a square tent. It probably makes zero real world difference but when I spend so much of my time obsessing over VPD, airflow, mold, bugs and the list goes on it's an interesting idea to be able to maybe, just maybe get a tiny advantage by having that extra amount of volume in the same space. In me it comes from tuning cars and always wanting to tinker and tweak things. I'm doing okay with reusing the same crappy round pots I've been using for 4 grows but it would be fun to try something new for cheap.
i got ocd too but i like square pots regardless of my ocd. it just makes sense in a square tent. either that or 3 huge triangles lol
 

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Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
Nothing, but the OCD in me really likes the idea of a square shape in a square tent. It probably makes zero real world difference but when I spend so much of my time obsessing over VPD, airflow, mold, bugs and the list goes on it's an interesting idea to be able to maybe, just maybe get a tiny advantage by having that extra amount of volume in the same space. In me it comes from tuning cars and always wanting to tinker and tweak things. I'm doing okay with reusing the same crappy round pots I've been using for 4 grows but it would be fun to try something new for cheap.
Nobody asked, but the square bags are 1 cubic foot. A cylindrical bag, a foot in diameter and a foot tall is .785 cubic foot. The square bag gets ya another .215 cubic feet of volume. I’d figure out the percent increase in volume but I’m stoned as fuck and someone else can figure that out.

since we’re spitballing here, I have a specific way to fill my planting bags - most dense medium at the bottom and progressively less dense layers up to the top. I start with Roots, a dusting of bat guano (nasty shit), a layer of FF Ocean Forrest, a dusting of earthworm castings, a layer of FF Happy Frog, and a layer of FF Light Warrior. I use the familiar yellow conical container that holds mole poison, and make a conical depression in the soil about 4 inches deep. I lay in some Great White Shark powder, and fill the hole about half way with more Light Warrior, drop a seedling in the hole and top it off with more Light Warrior. A generous dusting of diatomaceous earth, and we’re off to the races. I fill it pretty close to the rim, but since the less dense stuff is at the top, some natrual compaction occurs and makes room for a top dressing of more Dynomyco and FF Straberry Fields once they get deep into flowering.

i wind up with big root balls that i wrap around the base of trees in my yard and soak, and the soil that is left goes around flowers and other stuff. Waste not want not.
 

f.r

Well-Known Member
I used geopots years ago the smaller ones had velcro on the side to make replanting pretty easy.

Having said that I personally don't like using fabric pots with coco in hydro systems personally mainly due to uneven drying out of medium.
 

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
Ya gotta love an engineer :D
Ok, just spitballing here.

Before you start filling your pot, put a Pringles can dead center, and layer your soil around it, with some gentle compaction around the can to hold the soil in place. when the pot is filled, gently lift/twist the Pringles can out of the soil, and fill cylindrical void it leaves with Light Warrior. Drop your germinated seed about 2 inches deep, and then cover that with more light warrior (sprinkle some GWS in there before ya drop in the seed).

this will give the tap root from the seedling a path of least resistance to the bottom of the pot thru the least dense medium. You could just fill the void with straight perlite too. The cylindrical column of Light Warrior would probably compact naturally more than the surrounding medium thru watering and leave a nice depression to add in Strawberry Fields and Dynomyco when ya hit flowering too.

never give a retired engineer too much time to solve a problem.

bet this would work in an inverted pyramid too, but I’ll leave that to others to ponder…
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
@FirstCavApache64, why do you say that when you already know that the bulk of the roots are towards the bottom of the bag. Roots don't want to grow against gravity they know which way is down. Agreed there's no set amount of soil because that depends on the plant and the substrate. When you say 'nobody' else can see it, you are just referencing half a dozen people on a single thread. All the best ideas are because nobody saw the obvious. They laughed at Apple laptops when they moved keyboards near the screen instead of near the user. But it was such an obvious move that once it was pointed out, it became standard.

Take the Eazy Pyramids, they are a solid substrate that can be made in any shape, when the shape is not dictated by what is easy, but instead what works best, all their moulds are narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. They could make instead of a pyramid, a cylinder like a grow bag, but they do not do that. And the reason is obvious.

Actually the velcro idea is better, you'd just need it for the neck of the bag. Well you wouldn't need it but it would make it a bit easier, the zipper was just if a bag was made to be easily reusable, but it is a bit of overkill.
"Roots don't want to grow against gravity they know which way is down." - you have the science to back that up?

Screenshot_20211130-234034_Gallery.jpg

From what I can tell, they'll grow wherever there's moisture and food.

Screenshot_20211225-165932_Gallery.jpg

Hell, keep it moist enough, and they'll try growing out of the main stalk.
 
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