They are a PIA to water.
Big time.
I have considered dunking them.
Even with the two rows of solid at top a lot still comes out the sides lower down.
Whatever ends up in the tray is waste since the bottom of pot is elevated about 1 inch up off bottom of tray.
I have not hooked up the bluemats which IMO are made for this type thing, since I thought I would be in these a shorter time.
Maybe next time I will give them a try.
To me I see no difference from a normal grow?
Just catching up in here....
Super common issue when getting acquainted with airpots for the first time.
I'm guessing you do dry backs and let your soil get pretty dry before watering again?
That's usually the culprit that makes them difficult to water.
Think of your soil like it's a sponge. It swells when wet and shrinks when dry. When this happens in an airpot, it pulls off the walls leaving space for water to flow down the walls and out the sides.
The remedy to fix it is indeed dunking to get it to swell back up 100%.
The trick to avoiding it is first how the soil is loaded to start.
Really pack it in hard. I load mine then hold it by the bottom screen so I don't punch the screen out with one hand and with the other hand make a fist and tamp it down hard. Keep doing it until it's topped off but you want that soil packed in firmly.
Water it in then bore the hole and add your sprout.
Your airpot and soil will be very hard to over water. This is kind of a biggie not many expect. 10 days in I water every day and even that can sometimes not be enough.
One key is to pour slowly while circling the sprout with the water flow so it's not poured into one spot.
The soil is basically wrapped in air so you don't need to do a dry back the way you would with other containers. Keep that soil moist and with the design and make up of a light soil like COM, there will always be plenty of air in it and for the roots.
That moisture will keep the soil swollen up and you'll see much less water come out the side.
Every now and then an erosion channel will open up and water will flow out the side. To fix that, scratch up the surface to close that channel and maybe top dress if there's space available with more soil. All this will tame that pot to not be so leaky and much easier to manage.
Then if it does dry out at any point dunk it the next watering to get it swollen back up
Hope this helps and best of luck with the flip!!
