I stand by my post for this members need
but Doc!...Hook....Line...and Sinker! ..lol
Smart pots are NOT!
Fabric "root pruning" pots have some serious problems, and the manufacturers don't tell you about them! You get the hype and nothing else (did someone say AN?)
You get a root ball that forms more densely then it would in a "normal pot". You have a cpl of inch's of soil/media with no roots in it.
The first problem is that the water/feed you now put in. Gets partially used. The rest rolls off that root ball and out the sides and bottoms of the "pot".
Now you can let it sit in that "leeched soup" or run it back through.....But why? Your adding back all that leeched out nutrient "salt's." Can you say "
BUILD UP?"
So now you have to use more then you would in a normal pot to feed. That's waste! A LOT!
If your using a water only organic soil. That space not taken up by those roots is ,,,,
WASTED nutrition that could be used by the plant! Not to mention the amount that it retains, unused, of any synthetic you use.
I tested these things. At the harvest, for shits and giggles. I watered the plant as normal. Thinking I'm doing all I can for the plant in any way to make the nutrient available to the plant. I then cut the root ball in half. It was so dense the center of the root ball was not getting wet/damp/nutrition.
The whole idea of any "air pot" is to increase O2 to the roots.....
Best, most effective way to do that?
Learn how to water/feed every day at lights on! You draw more O2 into the roots by doing that. Then by the use of any "air pot" and watering every several days.....Period.
The dissolved O2 content in the water is also key. NO distilled/bottled and if you leave tap water out to get rid of chlorine etc. Put a bubbler in it! Bubbling it out is faster then simply letting it sit anyway..
No sir! My normal pots out preformed the fabric pots....AND are far cheaper!