DIY Smart Pots... Does fabric color make a difference? White versus Black material...

Any ideas on whether the color males a difference? i.e. We have those plastic grow bags available in white or black...

The real Smart Pots are black... The other brand I've seen are brown IIRC... I bought white cloth thinking black absorbs heat, white reflects...

Also I was thinking white will show any mold/mildew/etc better perhaps?

After posting this, I realized one more aspect that would only apply in the DIY case most likely... leeching of dye.

I'm thinking the white cloth has no dye in it whereas the black would. Which means it could leech into your plants.

Iwould assume the store-bought pots that are black are already addressing that problem and using a fabric that won't leech its color.

I'd be interested to see the white pots, as I've only seen black and tan. If you're good at making them start putting the white ones up on ebay.

Had the woman put the 3 yards of material into the wash with no chemicals to just give it a quick cleaning...

Somewhere, there's a sewing machine in my house... Haven't touched one of those since a middle school child... So this might be quite the adventure... we'll see how her sewing skills are... she's not done much of it either!

The good thing is this... even crude sewing will get the job done if they hold together well... it doesn't have to be pretty... Now... if we were selling them... people would EXPECT pretty... and I'd never make enough profit on them for the time it would take.... my real job pays too well compared to that... I'd be better off putting in overtime!

Smart Pots also come in brown, the wife has a few for some big house plants. The bright colors are the ones I would stay away from, seems whenever I have clothes that have color bleed it is the brighter colors. Just wash your fabric in plain hot water, that should help with any excess dye. As for the white. I would think it has no color added so no color bleed, but it will show the stains from being a pot of dirt a lot easier. Our brown Smart Pots have some dirt staining towards the bottom.

Agreed... but could care less about staining.

They're pots after all.... full of dirt (or soiless mix)... But the white is what I went with before I even considered the dye aspects...

And definitely agree on the wash in hot water alone... No chemicals needed... hell I was just doing a risnse "just in case"...