legallyflying
Well-Known Member
air pots actually work very well. So does letting your soil get pretty bone dry between watering.
you have to understand that plant roots, when moisture stressed, send out more roots. that is why air pruning and fabric pots work so well. Plants actually don't like moist soil. Only wetland plants have adaptations to thrive in saturated and anaerobic (lack of air) soils. Their roots can absorb nutrients in the high redox environment of saturated and reduced soils. Reduced meaning that there is soo little oxygen that iron and manganese concentrations are actually fixed by anaerobic bacteria. If you ever dug up wetland soil and witnessed that it is light grey or really dark black with orange spots in it you know what i am talking about.
In general, the more air in your planting medium the better. this is the principal reason why hydroponic and aeroponic plants see such increased growth rates and yield.
you have to understand that plant roots, when moisture stressed, send out more roots. that is why air pruning and fabric pots work so well. Plants actually don't like moist soil. Only wetland plants have adaptations to thrive in saturated and anaerobic (lack of air) soils. Their roots can absorb nutrients in the high redox environment of saturated and reduced soils. Reduced meaning that there is soo little oxygen that iron and manganese concentrations are actually fixed by anaerobic bacteria. If you ever dug up wetland soil and witnessed that it is light grey or really dark black with orange spots in it you know what i am talking about.
In general, the more air in your planting medium the better. this is the principal reason why hydroponic and aeroponic plants see such increased growth rates and yield.