DIY Air Pruning Pot Experiment - Pictures

[Hobbes]

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"when you say spongy, does that have any inference of mold or do we want spongy rootballs?"

No, not moldy. Spongy like it compresses a bit when pushed down with a hand, then regains it's shape. Not a solid ball of Pro Mix. Like there are a lot of roots.

"also if i was going to start a diy pot tmrw, which im not, what type of screen would you recomend that you think is working the best?"

If you use a cover bucket you can't go wrong with window insect screen - simple and cheap. Assuming nothing leaches out of the fiberglass and gives us cancer, but I've found nothing that would indicate that. The Landscaping fabric I THINK is working great but won't know until I cut the root balls open. I've checked one then replanted it but it was difficult to tell without cutting open the root ball - we can see the roots growing out of the hole bucket and it's cool, fun and encouraging.

I would go with a hole bucket if you have a duplicate bucket for a cover, just because of the visual encouragement. I think the landscape fabric buckets are going to work just, or almost, as good but do not have the visual rewards.

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"ps do u have any grow journals i could peep or is that not an option for you?"

A pic thread:

https://www.rollitup.org/seed-strain-reviews/211186-pics-my-garden-ssd-km.html

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This one is fun:

https://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/125137-alcohol-tincture.html

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https://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/272993-diy-make-your-own-press.html

https://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/278166-refine-your-cannabuter-better-taste.html

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/303229-diy-air-pruning-pot-experiment.htmlhttps://www.rollitup.org/seed-strain-reviews/182247-feminized-seeds-hermie-test-14-a.html

https://www.rollitup.org/smoke-reports/244210-kali-mist-serious-seeds.html

https://www.rollitup.org/smoke-reports/220871-bubblegum-serious-seeds.html

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/295710-root-clone-test-pictures.html

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/314209-single-cutting-cloners.html

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/245812-easy-seed-germination-simple-fast.html

https://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/300312-bhoe-comparrison-honey-bee-vs.html

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[Hobbes]

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I took the cover bucket off the 1/2" hole bucket to rub off any root tips before watering, most had dried and died. The roots still inside the holes are thick and some woody, 7 or 8 weeks of flower left.

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[McFonz]

I was thinking about that subject for a while now and as I'm a cheap lazzy bastard and aim for a micro grow why don't I just use an old sock with compost?
Compost should help retaining water, a sock is cheap and the roots should poke through it easily.
A sock doesn't hold its shape all that well, but nothing that a spiraled steel wire wouldn't solve.

Should take roughly 5 minutes and I don't see a reason for it to fail.

For a larger scale you could use a fat men sized training pants sleeve.
It should hold quite a bit of medium, you could cut it to size realy easily and it should be readily available.
Most of us complain about pots being too wide, that could fix that issue as well.

Indoor, where high winds aren't an issue, the con of it easily falling off should be an issue. Specially in a SCROG or SOG.
If it is an issue, a frame could be built from a steel wire. A heavy gauge steel wire is pretty tough.

What do you think?

 

[That 5hit]

the sock if made of cotton or if it has any level of degradeabe fiber in it will sooner or later fall apart -- 2 weeks tops
it may even mold

fail .......at the worst time

maybe try it with a nylan stoking "panty hose"

 

[Murfy]

i am using el cheapo laundry baskets i got at the local thrift store for 1.29 with landscape fabric inside
no cover bucket

 

[sensisensai]

Awesome idea. I had done a lot of playing around with this same subject then those eco bags came out. U know those re-usable grocery bags? They cost 1/3 the price of a smart pot and hold about 2 1/2 gallons of soil I use steel wire for training so I just stab through the bag where needed and bend the wire in a hook to hold the bag then the same for the branch. I hope u find and easier and even cheaper way to al this. I've found fred meyer bags to offer the best drainage and they seem to have just slightly larger pores.

 

[McFonz]

the sock if made of cotton or if it has any level of degradeabe fiber in it will sooner or later fall apart -- 2 weeks tops
it may even mold

fail .......at the worst time

maybe try it with a nylan stoking "panty hose"

made of 20% cotton, 70% polyester and 10% nylon. Or something similar.

It might degrade. I would still try it.
I have tons of worn out socks. If it biodegrades to the stage it is not practical to use I'll just shove it in another sock.
I only need it to last 3 months or so.

I can also make the same thing out of fly screens for doors - I have a lot of it lying around.
But its more work. If the socks go well and I'd like the idea of roots air pruning I'll make some off that fly screen for my next winter grow.


Another thing to consider is that the construction should only stay in shape on its own until root establish and hold the soil. Then it could start biodegrading if it wants to.

 

[Murfy]

sure those grocery bags are a good idea
how big of plants do you grow in these 2.5 gallon bags?

how long do they last?

 

[norcalikilla]

hey hobbes im sorry that i did not post a reply thanking you for the info. i could've sworn i did. i guess thats the medicine working! but anyway thank you so much for the replys and the knowledge. i have checked out some of those threads and have subed to one. i cant wait to get my new place to start my grow im literally shaking with excitment! +rep

 

[Hobbes]

hey hobbes im sorry that i did not post a reply thanking you for the info. i could've sworn i did. i guess thats the medicine working! but anyway thank you so much for the replys and the knowledge. i have checked out some of those threads and have subed to one. i cant wait to get my new place to start my grow im literally shaking with excitment! +rep

Don't sweat it, I didn't notice! LOL! No plus reps needed, infact - no +reps perfered please and thank you. Norcalikiller you've got to write a complaint about me to balance the equation!

I've had best luck with butane extractions but I want to get back to ice water kief and dissolve the trichs in a tiny bit of butane to make tincture making quicker.

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Bongmilie

 

[norcalikilla]

complaint against hobbes? not likely haha i think one of the first things im going to do with tincture is your quick 4-step with the 1/8 and some 151. i do want to make some co2 bottles and see how well those work and i need to figure out temp, humidity, and co2 in my closet grow at my new house. i really want to do an organic super soil too, however i think ill be growing in coco and maybe do some organics outdoors.

do u have any cool diys for cleaning out old grinders and using the keif in there? i have like 3! please and thanks always brotha

nCk

 

[Hobbes]

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I harvested the last of my Skunkberry today, it's a good multi harvester like Flo, but gives Flo's entire harvest with each individual harvest.

The Landscaping liner in a 5 gallon bucket worked phenomenally well to stop root circling and to develop a thick root mass. I'm incredibly impressed, good root constriction and lots of thin roots coming through the fabric, short skinny tips.

As I pull back the landscaping fabric we can see the lack of circling and the thickness of he outside roots.

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There were some thick chunks of root when I cut up the ball

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[That 5hit]

so all said and done you would go with the landscaping fabric

 

[Hobbes]

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The landscaping fabric is easy: no holes drilled in the bucket; no second cover bucket; works as soon as the root tip penetrates the fabric rather than in cycles when the cover bucket is taken off - but - I'd like to see the root ball from the hole bucket first before deciding. The root system would have to be much better with the hole bucket to choose that method over the easier fabric liners.

This Skunkberry I just harvested had the fabric put around the root ball during flower, the hole buckets plants were the first to get root pruning buckets while in veg - at transplant from 6" pots to 5 gallon buckets. After harvesting those two hole buckets (~ 6 weeks) and comparing them to the landscaping buckets transplanted in veg we'll be able to see which of the two methods work better. The harvest from this Skunkberry, particularly the 3rd multi harvest, was excelent - some of the best I've had. Probably 2 liters cured bud from the bottom third of this plant.

For now both methods work great and it's hard to pick one over the other for effectiveness.

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[Murfy]

after following hobbes and his buckets

i actually saw another guy doing almost this same thing but he was a commercial grower =pots with holes and fabric, if i come across it again i'll post pics

 

[Hobbes]

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Wow Murphy, what a fantastic idea!

Pre made holes from a laundry basket, imagine that!

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The fabric looks like the thinner, tiny hole fabric rather than the fiberglass mat. Great idea except there's no cover bucket to keep the outside of the root ball moist until the roots grow out of the holes, then drying and root tip dying. We could easily get around the lack of cover bucket by wrapping in plastic with Velcro to hold the plastic in place, then remove the plastic to dry out the root tips and the outer root ball.

One sweet idea!

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[Murfy]

thanks hobbes, but this was your idea i just changed it a little

so you think that the soil would dry to fast, my plants arew gonna be about 12 inches when i up can i figured i uld just keep an eye on it as i am newly disabled and have ALOT of time to spend with the girls, and my thinkig was most evaporation will go out the top, i was gonna just put something over the top of the pot, maybe that reflective stuff with the bubble wrap in the middle?

anyway your experiment was ground breaking and your input on this is valuable indeed-
i'm gonna up can today i'll put up pics!

 

[That 5hit]

you could allways just water more
maybe every day just use plain water
i dont think it would become that dry that fast
maybe use high mositer soil
but really the water every day sounds ok

 

[tightpockt]

Just killed an hour or so reading this thread and really enjoyed it. I did some searching on google on saw this thread on instructables (which is an awesome site for DIY'ers)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Milk-Crate-Air-Pot-Square-Foot-Urban-Container-G/

Also, I was thinking combining this method with a hempy bucket would be a pretty neat experiment. Cut the bottom two inches off of the bottom of a bucket and cut about a two inch band off of the top of the bucket and then wrap window screening between the two. Kind of like building a DIY carbon scrubber but instead of carbon fill it with perlite. Watering might be a pain..you'd just have to pour it in real slow. Or you could just skip all of that aggravation and time and buy a smart pot for 3 dollars.

 

[Murfy]

my pots were 1.29 piece plus fabric

and i agree with shizzle, water more, i do have a high perlite/secret ingredient percentage that should really help