Fabric pot leakage experiment

Buckeyetoker

Buckeyetoker

In Bloom
I love fabric pots. Root systems amaze me after every grow. BUT......I hate the water leaking out the sides. I usually wet the soil of them all, then come back for the drench. Has anyone taken a piece of plastic and cut like a 2-3" collar to push into the outside perimeter to hold the water in the top 2-3" so it can flow evenly down? Im gonna try it next time. Seems like a cheap easy fix to this problem.
 
During the soil mix process, before potting, I'll pre dampen my soil with a microbe tea, not only for absorption but to also knock down the dust from the process.

Another solution to your unwanted leakage, I find "watering in" just around the base of plant the first time around helps the situation. I also find that after a couple waterings it soon becomes a non issue.

As for a laugh, if you're still fighting leaks after that, perhaps you'd try something with wings...

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I usually don't have problems with that, I use big bags though so really only the the very top few inches ever really dry out. And I have a large drain pan with zero drain. Kinda stays moist like a flower bed outside.
Anywhere ya might have plastic on the bag green moss growth will probably ensue. I get a bit on the bottomedge where the bag meets tray.
 
if medium is leaking out sides , my guess is your medium might be capped and you need to make sure ur medium is fully saturated with water or you can def Capp it and when u try to water it the water will go to edges and never actually water the medium. Key is to get this corrected before plants are there are make sure if there already there u correct it by even letting the plant sit in water and re-absorb moisture. capped mediums is a very bad thing but easily can be prevented and corrected if spotted quick.



add retainer organics like worm castings and that def will help moisture/over dry issues.before adding worm castings if medium is dried pre feed/water if medium is dried first time. If medium is capped (super dry) , poke some holes with a bamboo or similar stick around the medium and rinse. Lift medium and see if it’s actually retaining it. If it isn’t and ur pits aren’t too big. Let them retain in a bucket .

my veg room moms are normally 4–6ft+ ( once too tall I gotta kill em) in a 1gal but if I’m off even a few hr’s when lights are off I can cap or over dry my coco since my medium is 90+% roots .solution 4 me if capped/over dry in coco is I let the medium it in a bucket to retain for a few hrs. Than I will check the weight . If it’s not retaining , poke some holes in the medium and look for the air bubbles when u water

worm poop has so many benefits and it’s great to make ur pot retain the moisture and re-release slowly through the day. I apply a 1/8th-1/4th inch every 2 weeks from star—last two weeks of harvest.
 
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If my tops dry out a bit I just water a little bit in the middle multiple times...just slow things down and it will all go where it's suppose too.
If you want too keep your tops moist longer put a layer of clayballs on top and water slowly and it should not come out the sides.
 
Buckeyetoker said:
I love fabric pots. Root systems amaze me after every grow. BUT......I hate the water leaking out the sides. I usually wet the soil of them all, then come back for the drench. Has anyone taken a piece of plastic and cut like a 2-3" collar to push into the outside perimeter to hold the water in the top 2-3" so it can flow evenly down? Im gonna try it next time. Seems like a cheap easy fix to this problem.
Click to expand...
Yes I have done that but....

This is a picture of a grassroots living soil bed.
20211219_184545.jpg
That is a waterproof pvc piece of plastic they've sewn in to prevent the kind of thing you are dealing with. This passed year I wraped a 5 gal fabric pot wit saran wrap. Worked wonders to prevent over drying works better than the top ring.
 
SSGrower said:
Yes I have done that but....

This is a picture of a grassroots living soil bed.
View attachment 96759
That is a waterproof pvc piece of plastic they've sewn in to prevent the kind of thing you are dealing with. This passed year I wraped a 5 gal fabric pot wit saran wrap. Worked wonders to prevent over drying works better than the top ring.
Click to expand...
That’s the shit I’m talking about! thanks for sharing!
 
This brought back up my idea to cut dogfood bags up into strips and sew it to the inside if my pots to simulate a quality one I know I'm cheap but I got 6 dogs ??? but then I feel like I'm losing the breathability I bought them for, also a decent wetting agent every other watering may help as well, yucca or aloe would be my choice
 
I have found 2 things that work.
1)...water with a pump sprayer to saturate the top of the medium....then water and do it slow. I usually feed my big planters 1 gallon a day if they need it or not and its a slow pour.

2) lined pots are the best. I have tried a bunch of the more traditional style and the grass roots lined planters are my favorite. The lining is 80% of the top of the pot so the water can not spill out the sides (get a good saucer and it waters very nice).

www.grassrootsfabricpots.com

Living Soil Pots and Beds

Our Living Soil Pots and Beds are designed like our regular fabric containers but we’ve added our new and innovative MoistureLock™ technology!
www.grassrootsfabricpots.com www.grassrootsfabricpots.com
 
OldG said:
I have found 2 things that work.
1)...water with a pump sprayer to saturate the top of the medium....then water and do it slow. I usually feed my big planters 1 gallon a day if they need it or not and its a slow pour.

2) lined pots are the best. I have tried a bunch of the more traditional style and the grass roots lined planters are my favorite. The lining is 80% of the top of the pot so the water can not spill out the sides (get a good saucer and it waters very nice).

www.grassrootsfabricpots.com

Living Soil Pots and Beds

Our Living Soil Pots and Beds are designed like our regular fabric containers but we’ve added our new and innovative MoistureLock™ technology!
www.grassrootsfabricpots.com www.grassrootsfabricpots.com
Click to expand...
Watering with a pump sprayer does wonders- The top dressing gets very foamy, allowing it to blend and mix well & adds oxygen. You can also use the pressure to break up capped medium or ewc chunks (I love watching it foam & mix) Roadhouse rules; each plant gets watered a little and then I make my way back around a few times to give plenty of time for the water to be absorbed by the medium.
 
thats the thig with fabric pots - dampness of them - reallly need to watch your watering of and grow on the dry side Now - Air-pot's work great but they need to be water just about every day hey !! what ever works for you
 
Hawkman said:
thats the thig with fabric pots - dampness of them - reallly need to watch your watering of and grow on the dry side Now - Air-pot's work great but they need to be water just about every day hey !! what ever works for you
Click to expand...
My experiences running air pots-I used to run air pots exclusively using coco mixture + bottled nutes. Quality was good, yield was very good. When I switched to a more organic growing style, I tried to use the air pots & the plants didn't thrive like their brothers and sisters next to them in the fabric bags. I think they dry too quickly and it messes with the soil biology. Auto watering systems are hard to get dialed in on them & and hand watering is a chore since they leak everywhere.
 
I've come to embrace the leakage and run a quasi-flood n drain style with 1 gal fabric pots.

My 2x2 veg tents each have a 2x2 basin (roughly 4-5 inches tall around the sides). They perfectly fit nine 1 gal fabric pots. I water/feed them each 2/3 gal. Completely soaks them, and let them soak/wick up any standing water in the basin (there might be 1/2" of standing water) they'll soak it up in 15-30 minutes.

With 9 of them perfectly squeezed in there, they dont' dry out too quickly.

I put them each in 3 gal buckets when I move them into flower. The bucket mainly serves as a drain off area (there's a couple inches of perlite in each bucket), but I can also water directly into the bucket/perlite and it acts as a SIP.

Always have a fan moving a good amount of air. The soil needs that air movement/free electrons to dry out properly.

Plants can handle getting pretty DRY in fabric pots, but it seems to slow growth. Keeping them moist constantly works a treat, and they'll grow BIG.
 
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