Grow Bags The Good The Bad and the Ugly 👺

[CannaGranny]

Grow bags. Seems everyone’s experience is a bit different. Some run with it, other’s struggle the entire grow and hate them!
I love them and had to wonder why so many do not. Mainly it seems to all come down to watering practices and an understanding of the root zone.
Pros of the bags:
Allows light and air sheering of roots having outgrown the size of your container. This would occur in the same manner if this plant was planted in nature.
Does not allow the main tap root to hit a hard spot and snake or coil up in the bottom of your planter. When this happens the plant sends out a call for help. Your lady will respond sending all kinds of good stuff to the main root that thinks it’s in trouble. We need that good stuff up top!
They are easily carried.
For chemical growers, they show what’s going on in your soil and will alert you to salt leeching.
They take minimal space for storage.
They can be washed and reused. (Empty, rinse dirt residue out,outside. Washer, using one cup of white vinegar and 1/4th cup of baking soda on a gentle cycle, remove, shape and allow to air dry)
Affordable
Cons:
Hard to water properly. This seems to be the number one problem and the one almost always mentioned. They (dried out cloth pots) seem to accompany many pics of sad droopy thirsty plants.
They dry out quickly. About three days max for me regardless of the humidity.
Improper watering allows pooling at the bottom of the root ball, allowing drowning to occur.
About Watering Cloth Pots:
This is no fast process! Watering cloth pots takes patience and time. If you are someone that just throws water at your plant and quickly moves on, this is not the container for you.
I water until the water slightly pools atop of the soil and then move on to the next while this “sinks in”. By the time I return to the plant I watered first, that has soaked in and I repeat this process. As the medium becomes willing to accept the water without pooling atop of the medium the process picks up a bit.
If I were to just dump a large amount of water atop of it, it would create channeling that would dump the watering right out the sides of my bag with all of it basically becoming runoff. You really want to allow time for that water to permeate the bag. That’s why I’m not satisfied until I see small drops from the bottom of the bag showing me that my medium is throughly watered. (I grow organically and don’t allow a big run off).
When watering a cloth bag the only time the center of the bag should be watered is at the time of transplanting to set your plant in. After that initial watering all watering is to be done in your root zone. To picture a root zone, look at your bag of soil, one inch from the rim of the bag picture a circle all the way around the pot. This will be your root zone. Watering in this area encourages your roots to spread out seeking water. Watering close to the root ball will build a mud hole beneath your plant cutting off oxygen and drowning it.
All in all for a bit of time in exchange for minimal storage, excellent growth and sticky fat buds.. I’m keeping mine

 

[SiamSam]

Slow watering is the best way to go for sure. Tried a bag on this last grow and I thought it worked out OK fine. The airpots after the grow always show really impressive root development. Water slowly, wait an hour and then water till finished. I'm using rainwater and wondering if it needs to be filtered. I haven't been, but am religious about pumping in oxygen before using. My solar pump broke, so I had to get an electric one and start with that. Getting ready for bed, have a good day everybody. Got hamburger patties made and getting ready for 4th of July Thai style.

 

[Shaded]

Without fabric pots I am nothing.

If you are someone that just throws water at your plant and quickly moves on, this is not the container for you.

das me

 

[Aqua Man]

Yup and they also give much better gas exchange since more of the soil is in a sense exposed.

Another note on the roots… the structure is different than using a plastic pot because the root also seek out higher oxygenated areas with moisture. Since the gas exchange is better in a fabric pot throughout you see a denser root mass deeper towards the middle of the media.

In a plastic pot you see the roots coil around the outside very often… this is due to the fact when your media pull away from the pot on the dry cycle it creates an area of higher o2 that is still very moist.

I had pics showing this before but no longer do.

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

Fabric pots are no good for me. I use blumats and when I use the fabric pots it leaves big dry patches that don't get filled with roots. So you end up with anywhere from 10-25% of your soil unused by your plant, which is a no go for me as I'm in organic soil and need the nutrients from my soil to feed my plants.

 

[CannaGranny]

Fabric pots are no good for me. I use blumats and when I use the fabric pots it leaves big dry patches that don't get filled with roots. So you end up with anywhere from 10-25% of your soil unused by your plant, which is a no go for me as I'm in organic soil and need the nutrients from my soil to feed my plants.

I cut a lot of my bags off as I have nothing but seven gallon’s of roots. I also grow organically. Seems to work for me.

 

[Aqua Man]

Fabric pots are no good for me. I use blumats and when I use the fabric pots it leaves big dry patches that don't get filled with roots. So you end up with anywhere from 10-25% of your soil unused by your plant, which is a no go for me as I'm in organic soil and need the nutrients from my soil to feed my plants.

Imo that system while works is flawed very much for that reason. Thats not so much a pot thing as it is a system design thing.

 

[Amnesia]

I recommend spraying the surface of the soil with plain water before watering. It keeps the water from running off to the sides or pooling up at the top.

Fabric pots have always been my final pot. I'd appreciate some advice about the pots I use before the final transplant. I've used plastic pots, but have problems with slow drying. I like plastic because it's easy to slide the root ball out of the pot. I'm thinking about poking holes in the sides of the pots to increase aeration and drying. Is there a better way?

 

[Amnesia]

Fabric pots are no good for me. I use blumats and when I use the fabric pots it leaves big dry patches that don't get filled with roots. So you end up with anywhere from 10-25% of your soil unused by your plant, which is a no go for me as I'm in organic soil and need the nutrients from my soil to feed my plants.

I grow in organic soil, too. I had that problem with some commercial starter soil I used, except it was in plastic pots. I'm sure it was due to inadequate soil porosity. (I don't know what blumats are, though.)

 

[Aqua Man]

I grow in organic soil, too. I had that problem with some commercial starter soil I used, except it was in plastic pots. I'm sure it was due to inadequate soil porosity. (I don't know what blumats are, though.)

They feed from the bottom instead of the top

 

[Aqua Man]

This all kinda boils down to the right media for the method.

This breaks down quite a bit of it

Watering cannabis explained by Aqua Man

This will be a long read based on my personal knowledge, opinions, research and others work to consolidate information for our members. I'm not presenting my opinions as facts so take from this what you like. I will be putting it in subsection format for easy reference. First I want to make an...

budbuilders.org

 

[Rootsruler]

Media saturation is one of the reasons I'm modifying my DIY auto water with FloraFlex Matrix plates. The holes in the plates will provide a metered delivery and will sature over the entire top surface giving a nice even media saturation. Still debating whether I want to include the pads they use to more evenly saturate the media but I'm going to give the plates themselves a run first and see how that works out. Since I use synthetic nutes I can set up my water time on the timer by seeing how long it takes for runoff. As soon as I start seeing runoff I program that number into my timer and keep an eye on it the first few times. After that it's just periodic checks to make sure the system is working properly and no changes need to be made.

As @CannaGranny mentioned, when I hand water I try and water inside the outer edges of the pot about an inch away from the edge. Only the last bit of watering do I water around the main stem.

The matrix system itself dumps water into the center of the plate and the water backs up and spreads to the outer portion of the plate. I'm going to place the feed line so that it starts watering the outer portion first and water starts to migrate towards the inside so that I get more water around the edges of the pot with an adequate amount hitting the middle.

I've never used air pots and am interested in perhaps one day getting a chance to see how they do but, so far, cloth pots have worked great for me. I agree with CG. Watering practices are everything with cloth pots. My take is master cloth pots and the watering practices needed to make them work and you'll be able to transfer that discipline to any other container you choose and know that your plants are being watered correctly.

 

[IamN2pot]

I agree with with what has been said and I've used fabric pots myself the past 2 years and love the results. I would like to add that I'm able to water rather quickly with my anti-fungus gnat barrier. I make them from old pre-filter material, or if you want nice clean looking ones, I get batton material at JoAnns. While they are not 100% effective at eliminating fungus gnats, they make a huge differance. I also add a small does of Gnatrol WDG when I first water in the transplant to soak the soil well and don't have any problems for the rest of the grow.
When I first started using the barriers on top of plastic pots, I noticed how well they distribute the water over the surface and it can't/won't , as CG put it so well, "build a mud hole". I just pour on 16oz cups, one at a time, around the pot, back and forth between 2 pots and if I haven't let them get to dry, it takes the water just fine, without runoff, up to 6 cups (96oz) per 5 gal pot. And if I go more than 48 hours without wattering, then my top inch is dried out and I'll have to water much slower. It's all good, no problem!
All I can say is if you're having some of the watering issues CannaGranny mentioned, you might try adding one of these soil covers. It will also help with water retention in the top inch of soil, especially if you double layer it, giving us earth farmers about 10% more soil for the roots to draw from in that top inch of soil.
and FTR, I haven't found any drawbacks to using them. So hoping that helps someone......

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

Imo that system while works is flawed very much for that reason. Thats not so much a pot thing as it is a system design thing.

It doesn't happen with plastic pots. I get roots filling the whole pot. It's just when I use them with fabric pots you get a few spots that dry out to fast and don't end up with roots. I've saw others say the same thing and they are always using fabric pots. Doesn't happen with the plastic pots for me at least.
fabric pots work great if I hand water, just not so much with blumats.

 

[Aqua Man]

It doesn't happen with plastic pots. I get roots filling the whole pot. It's just when I use them with fabric pots you get a few spots that dry out to fast and don't end up with roots. I've saw others say the same thing and they are always using fabric pots. Doesn't happen with the plastic pots for me at least.
fabric pots work great if I hand water, just not so much with blumats.

Yes thats because of how the system works not the pots themselves. They are probably not compatible in a sense depending on the media.

As i say they absolutely work but they are very prone to the issue you describe. The physics of it is the reason. Personally i dont feel bottom watering is a very efficient method but thats not to say it can’t be done with great results but it absolutely can

 

[Amnesia]

@PrimoClonesCanada - How do you find the dry spots? Is it after you harvest and look at the roots and soil? I ask because I've been using a soil moisture probe to find dry (or wet) spots. When I find a dry spot, I use a skewer stick (basically a small dowel with a sharpened end) to poke some holes into the dry spot and then pour some water into the holes. Once moistened, water will be drawn there. At least, that's according to my "dry sponge" theory. Dry soil, like a dry sponge, doesn't absorb water well, but will when it's moist.

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

@PrimoClonesCanada - How do you find the dry spots? Is it after you harvest and look at the roots and soil? I ask because I've been using a soil moisture probe to find dry (or wet) spots. When I find a dry spot, I use a skewer stick (basically a small dowel with a sharpened end) to poke some holes into the dry spot and then pour some water into the holes. Once moistened, water will be drawn there. At least, that's according to my "dry sponge" theory. Dry soil, like a dry sponge, doesn't absorb water well, but will when it's moist.

Cool man that's a great technique.
I don't find out till after I harvest and check my pots.
I just switched to the plastic pots and I don't find it a problem anymore.
I should invest in a good moisture meter to see if there's any dry spots.

 

[steamroller]

They feed from the bottom instead of the top

Blue mats do not water from bottom..

Advantages - Tropf-Blumat

Tropf-Blumat is an automatic watering system for plants all around the house. From flowering plants to your own vegetables, Tropf-Blumat is a needs-based system - watering only occurs when necessary.

www.blumat.com

 

[Rootsruler]

I agree with with what has been said and I've used fabric pots myself the past 2 years and love the results. I would like to add that I'm able to water rather quickly with my anti-fungus gnat barrier. I make them from old pre-filter material, or if you want nice clean looking ones, I get batton material at JoAnns. While they are not 100% effective at eliminating fungus gnats, they make a huge differance. I also add a small does of Gnatrol WDG when I first water in the transplant to soak the soil well and don't have any problems for the rest of the grow.
When I first started using the barriers on top of plastic pots, I noticed how well they distribute the water over the surface and it can't/won't , as CG put it so well, "build a mud hole". I just pour on 16oz cups, one at a time, around the pot, back and forth between 2 pots and if I haven't let them get to dry, it takes the water just fine, without runoff, up to 6 cups (96oz) per 5 gal pot. And if I go more than 48 hours without wattering, then my top inch is dried out and I'll have to water much slower. It's all good, no problem!
All I can say is if you're having some of the watering issues CannaGranny mentioned, you might try adding one of these soil covers. It will also help with water retention in the top inch of soil, especially if you double layer it, giving us earth farmers about 10% more soil for the roots to draw from in that top inch of soil.
and FTR, I haven't found any drawbacks to using them. So hoping that helps someone......

View attachment 11283

One of the issues that I thought might happen is algae or some other growth forming under the pad/plate but it seems like that hasn't been an issue for you. I would think that you don't have to water as much as the top will reduce evaporation of the top soil. I wonder if this means that less frequent waterings should accompany higher PPM feeds since I won't have to water as frequently?

 

[Aqua Man]

Blue mats do not water from bottom..

Advantages - Tropf-Blumat

Tropf-Blumat is an automatic watering system for plants all around the house. From flowering plants to your own vegetables, Tropf-Blumat is a needs-based system - watering only occurs when necessary.

www.blumat.com

My bad im not sure why i thought that. It would simply be not enough water released to saturate the media fully. Spacing, flow etc.

 

[steamroller]

I would use the flora flex trays with the Tropf to aide in proper dispersal.
If I was to use bags and bluemats.

 

[Rootsruler]

My bad im not sure why i thought that. It would simply be not enough water released to saturate the media fully. Spacing, flow etc.

One of the reasons I don't like that system is that it would require more than one to get consistent saturation coverage along with reports of clogging and the such. For those that use the system and have good results hats off to you for making it work. Just not for me.

 

[Rootsruler]

Personally i dont feel bottom watering is a very efficient method but thats not to say it can’t be done with great results but it absolutely can

Curious to hear your reasons why?

 

[Aqua Man]

Curious to hear your reasons why?

unless flooding all the way to the top the water will inly wick up as far as the perched water table. Since bone dry media wont allow roots or microorganisms to grow it wastes all of the media above the perched water table. Essentially reducing your pot size by that much

 

[Rootsruler]

unless flooding all the way to the top the water will inly wick up as far as the perched water table. Since bone dry media wont allow roots or microorganisms to grow it wastes all of the media above the perched water table. Essentially reducing your pot size by that much

I ask because I've had good success with flood and drain systems which are essentially bottom watering. I use trays with 6" sides and 6" rockwoll cubes in those configurations. I also adjust the spillover to be almost to the edge of the flood table so I get full saturation on the cubes.

 

[IamN2pot]

I ask because I've had good success with flood and drain systems which are essentially bottom watering. I use trays with 6" sides and 6" rockwoll cubes in those configurations. I also adjust the spillover to be almost to the edge of the flood table so I get full saturation on the cubes.

How do you do that in a fabric pot???


Just kidding

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

When You set the blumats up you water your pots till almost run off. This way your medium is fully saturated and then the blumats start dripping the medium is still moist and wicks all around my pots. I use small 2 gallon pots but it works with big pots as well. It keeps my whole medium at whatever I set my blumat to.
The bottom watering is from sips, they work in the same way as blumats but they wick bottom to top and blumats wick top to bottom with the drip system.
Only down side to the blumats is clogging.

 

[Amnesia]

Returning to the OP, I'm with @CannaGranny on this topic. I can't imagine what might lure me away from fabric pots. Gas exchange and air trimming the roots are two big pros.

It's good to keep the perched water table in mind. @Aqua Man introduced the topic to me in my first thread back in that other forum. I've been thinking about it ever since. It seems to me that it can be an issue regardless of the type of pot used, but for me, it's more of a problem with plastic pots. They dry very slowly, making it hard to water in dry nutrients. He also mentioned the shape of the pot and how that can make a difference. I decided that's especially for clones that don't have a tap root.

I think one of the best things I've done for my use of fabric pots is to aerate the bottom of the pot. Adding a riser or screen is easy to do and makes a big difference for the wet/dry cycle. Highly recommended.

 

[SSgrower]

Grow bags. Seems everyone’s experience is a bit different. Some run with it, other’s struggle the entire grow and hate them!
I love them and had to wonder why so many do not. Mainly it seems to all come down to watering practices and an understanding of the root zone.
Pros of the bags:
Allows light and air sheering of roots having outgrown the size of your container. This would occur in the same manner if this plant was planted in nature.
Does not allow the main tap root to hit a hard spot and snake or coil up in the bottom of your planter. When this happens the plant sends out a call for help. Your lady will respond sending all kinds of good stuff to the main root that thinks it’s in trouble. We need that good stuff up top!
They are easily carried.
For chemical growers, they show what’s going on in your soil and will alert you to salt leeching.
They take minimal space for storage.
They can be washed and reused. (Empty, rinse dirt residue out,outside. Washer, using one cup of white vinegar and 1/4th cup of baking soda on a gentle cycle, remove, shape and allow to air dry)
Affordable
Cons:
Hard to water properly. This seems to be the number one problem and the one almost always mentioned. They (dried out cloth pots) seem to accompany many pics of sad droopy thirsty plants.
They dry out quickly. About three days max for me regardless of the humidity.
Improper watering allows pooling at the bottom of the root ball, allowing drowning to occur.
About Watering Cloth Pots:
This is no fast process! Watering cloth pots takes patience and time. If you are someone that just throws water at your plant and quickly moves on, this is not the container for you.
I water until the water slightly pools atop of the soil and then move on to the next while this “sinks in”. By the time I return to the plant I watered first, that has soaked in and I repeat this process. As the medium becomes willing to accept the water without pooling atop of the medium the process picks up a bit.
If I were to just dump a large amount of water atop of it, it would create channeling that would dump the watering right out the sides of my bag with all of it basically becoming runoff. You really want to allow time for that water to permeate the bag. That’s why I’m not satisfied until I see small drops from the bottom of the bag showing me that my medium is throughly watered. (I grow organically and don’t allow a big run off).
When watering a cloth bag the only time the center of the bag should be watered is at the time of transplanting to set your plant in. After that initial watering all watering is to be done in your root zone. To picture a root zone, look at your bag of soil, one inch from the rim of the bag picture a circle all the way around the pot. This will be your root zone. Watering in this area encourages your roots to spread out seeking water. Watering close to the root ball will build a mud hole beneath your plant cutting off oxygen and drowning it.
All in all for a bit of time in exchange for minimal storage, excellent growth and sticky fat buds.. I’m keeping mine

Brother I can dig it! I water my 3 gal and 5 gal the same way. Oh, you run 5s and 3s? Yep, I know how. Master gardener, who cares. Look at your grow. See what you are doing. Great tutorial here,sticky.SS grower

 

[freezeland]

I think a lot of the negative experiences growers have with grow bags is attributable to the quality of the bag. AC infinity has nice pots with the grommets for LST attachment points, nice thick fabric. I tried a new brand this grow and really like them. They are called root pouch. Got 7 5g fabs in a 2x4 tent. They fit fine. They are a little taller but smaller foot print than a ac infinity 5g fab. Only thing negative is no grommet’s but I don’t use LST method much anyway. They are a bit cheaper too which is a plus since I don’t recycle fabric pots.