What do you put between a large 100+ gallon geo pot and the floor?

deimos phobos

deimos phobos

Active Member
I have a 150 gallon geo pot with living soil liner, been tempted to abandon the idea a bunch of times in lieu of 15 gallon containers, but I feel like I should be true to what I wanted and give it a shot.

My question is in regards to raising the fabric off the direct floor? The thing is gonna weigh hundreds and hundreds of pounds so something as simple as a "pot riser" doesn't exist, that I've seen. I thought of trying to find some kind of heavy duty metal rack or something. Someone else mentioned using a flood tray and a special kind of gravel?

Putting it on a raised square grid with castors won't be possible as it's inside a tent and won't be mobile

Would love to hear or see what anybody growing in 100+ gallon pots that don't move are doing

Cheers!
 
2WorldsFrog

2WorldsFrog

Well-Known Member
Pallets maybe? I'm not sure how big of a footprint a 150gal geo pot has, but I've seen wood pallets used for fabric pots before. Those pallets are made for weight and are pretty easy to find. Just trying to help, good luck.
 
4

4ftRoots

Well-Known Member
Get some pond liner, rubber stuff not PVC. Fill with a small layer of pea gravel, maybe 2 inches. Then set that bad boy on top! Don't forget to automate watering with blumats. I had this setup before and I have this setup right now and it works like a dream. I have it going for my houseplants too, if you lift the pot you will see worms in the gravel, they are nutty.

It works because it mimics nature. bedrock is always at the bottom of soil. As an added bonus, it will create a very short perched water table in the pot which allows you to water with the short blumats. Never had a rot problem and never will.

What aeration component are you using? It is very important! I highly recommend Turface MVP or Pumice and 7.5% Biochar. I can expand on why later.

You should start a thread if you have the time! We can all work together towards the best system for you. And it, hopefully, wont get lost so it can be used for reference for generations to come.
 
deimos phobos

deimos phobos

Active Member
4ftRoots said:
Get some pond liner, rubber stuff not PVC. Fill with a small layer of pea gravel, maybe 2 inches. Then set that bad boy on top! Don't forget to automate watering with blumats. I had this setup before and I have this setup right now and it works like a dream. I have it going for my houseplants too, if you lift the pot you will see worms in the gravel, they are nutty.

It works because it mimics nature. bedrock is always at the bottom of soil. As an added bonus, it will create a very short perched water table in the pot which allows you to water with the short blumats. Never had a rot problem and never will.

What aeration component are you using? It is very important! I highly recommend Turface MVP or Pumice and 7.5% Biochar. I can expand on why later.

You should start a thread if you have the time! We can all work together towards the best system for you. And it, hopefully, wont get lost so it can be used for reference for generations to come.
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Duuuude I need to pick your brain on this and hear more. I’d love to follow your advice and have you guys show me what to do... I’m learning from zero here and am totally grateful for any and all advice! I can do it right away. I have KIS soil here sourced from Black Swallow Living Soil, but can also run back there for any extra stuff I want

I guess I have no aeration component yet other than whatever is in the KIS soil? It might have that stuff, how do I find out?

Thank you very much for your help!
 
4

4ftRoots

Well-Known Member
Dude your on the right track, you started organic! I'm pretty sure they put pumice in their soil because that is what is prevalent in their area. It would definitely be worth asking them what their percentage of aeration is. I go off Coots mix that you can find in the first page of the ROLS sticky near the bottom posted by Cann. It's super easy to make so I never tried anything new. He recommends 33% areation with 5% biochar so 38% total.

You can find the info by asking them. You can also look in the ingredients, but if you don't know what your looking for it will be hard to pick out. Plus, they put so much in there it would give you a headache lol.

Side note, I would stay away from perlite for living soil. Never used it but I heard it doesn't work very well.
 
deimos phobos

deimos phobos

Active Member
4ftRoots said:
Dude your on the right track, you started organic!
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So happy to hear you say this.. And you have no idea how many people have tried to discourage me from it.. I actually had a semi-failure on my first organic attempt because I stupidly used 3gallon pots and developed deficiencies in flower. So this time I'm hoping to do it right.

I'm pretty sure they put pumice in their soil because that is what is prevalent in their area.
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Yeah I'm quite sure it's pumice. It's bigger pieces than perlite, ya?
 
4

4ftRoots

Well-Known Member
deimos phobos said:
So happy to hear you say this.. And you have no idea how many people have tried to discourage me from it.. I actually had a semi-failure on my first organic attempt because I stupidly used 3gallon pots and developed deficiencies in flower. So this time I'm hoping to do it right.


Yeah I'm quite sure it's pumice. It's bigger pieces than perlite, ya?
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Failure is the most fun way to learn. Hell it look me 2 years to figure out organic was the way. I went through every route possible. Was never happy until I hit organics.

Yeah and you can't crush it in your fingers.

I'd love to see your 150 gallon when it's all setup. Are you going to cover crop or mulch?
 
deimos phobos

deimos phobos

Active Member
4ftRoots said:
Failure is the most fun way to learn. Hell it look me 2 years to figure out organic was the way. I went through every route possible. Was never happy until I hit organics.

Yeah and you can't crush it in your fingers.

I'd love to see your 150 gallon when it's all setup. Are you going to cover crop or mulch?
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It’s so tempting when I keep seeing other people just use coco inside of these autopot systems, dumping liquid REMO NUTES into them, and growing these effortless trees. While I’m here doing Organics and nonstop troubleshooting. But a weird part of me almost doesn’t mind the troubleshooting aspect, it just motivates me to try and see if I can fix it

I have to be true to what I believe in, and I want to believe in organics. And just like you said. I think even if I got frustrated, quit organics, and started dumping chemical bottled nutes everywhere, I’d be unsatisfied knowing it’s a compromise I don’t want to make

Yup I have two bags of this on hand for cover crop 998D3F3A-F966-49CB-A0BF-CF297CF6C247.jpeg

and this for mulch E39555EA-8289-409B-A11E-D675E688CD21.jpeg

But I’m a bit scared to use the straw as I hear it attracts fungus gnats or bugs like crazy. Thoguhts?
 
deimos phobos

deimos phobos

Active Member
Only thing stopping me from setting it up is I don’t really know how.. I gotta figure out the liner and pea gravel part I guess
 
K

kkookoo

Well-Known Member
Oh. I just put them in a flood tray I figured the side vents at the bottom and the grooves at the bottom of the tray would work

So far I think so good

edit I don’t have geo pots I have 100 gallon living soil pots from that is beige pot company
 
K

kkookoo

Well-Known Member
deimos phobos said:
I have a 150 gallon geo pot with living soil liner, been tempted to abandon the idea a bunch of times in lieu of 15 gallon containers, but I feel like I should be true to what I wanted and give it a shot.

My question is in regards to raising the fabric off the direct floor? The thing is gonna weigh hundreds and hundreds of pounds so something as simple as a "pot riser" doesn't exist, that I've seen. I thought of trying to find some kind of heavy duty metal rack or something. Someone else mentioned using a flood tray and a special kind of gravel?

Putting it on a raised square grid with castors won't be possible as it's inside a tent and won't be mobile

Would love to hear or see what anybody growing in 100+ gallon pots that don't move are doing

Cheers!
Click to expand...
get a plastic pallet if you have to
 
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