Using plastic garbage bags as pots? (not growing bags)
- Thread starter eag
- Start date
mixchemical
Active Member
I would say no. Since they dont have any "feet" or anything that, even if you would poke some holes the weight of the soil/medium would just keep it planted on the ground and not let the water drain out. Also, the bag itself wont "hold" a shape, rather just take a shape of whatever is inside...which in this case would be soil for ex. it would just flatten out and not have any depth.
superbak3d
Well-Known Member
Put it in a trash barrel
mixchemical
Active Member
But then you could just use the barrel instead of the bagPut it in a trash barrel
I see no use for having 2 containers for 1 plant 
Hydrotech364
Well-Known Member
Only sub terrain Killa.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Use smaller heavy duty bags so they remain portable, poke some holes in the bottom for drainage and absolutely. Why not?Im talking about regular plastic garbage bags usually coloured black with a volume of 50-150 litres.
What you guys think yes or no?
Get the drawstring bags and you can suck the top of the bag right to the stem, reducing chances of fungus gnats or worse. Helps reduce evaporation from the top.
Top dressing materials would be ridiculously easy, could even push the new stuff down the sides, taking advantage of the relative formlessness of the bag over rigid pots.
Biggest things to watch out for;
1. Keep the bag out of the sun or cooked roots will kill your plants. At least cover it well.
2. Don't over fill it, or poke too many holes in it or you'll affect its portability.
3. Try to move the bag only when the plant has sucked the coco dry, it will be much lighter.
Some folks have trouble thinking outside the box. I've been doing it all my life.
I see exactly nothing fundamentally wrong with your plans.
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
Do they not just fall apart if left outside? I've used feed bags, grow bags, etc. But never garbage bags, let us know and yup tty is right, if you close in the top it means fewer waterings but all my bag grows are outdoors. Also about a month into the grow I actually slice the bottoms open to allow the roots to grow into the earth below.
BobCajun
Well-Known Member
They would act as solar heaters. You would need white garbage cans. Here's a lovely Brute grow bin. You put your black bags inside there and put a few holes in the bottom of the bin and bag with a drill, on the sides of the bottom.
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
I've never had an issue with using black grow bags but I don't sit them in the middle of a field either. I guess if stealth is not an issue than white may work but I'd be worried about it letting light in, if that's even a concern. Grow bags are .50 here if you buy 50 so I buy enough to do me a few years
.
Lucky Luke
Well-Known Member
Dont garbage bags break down fast these days?
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
This is also a great idea, of course it means they're no longer portable, lol
Enigmatic Ways
Well-Known Member
Lol...Wow you motherfucker's get cheaper and cheaper every day, if I had to grow in some fucking garbage bags that in itself tells me I need to wait...lol wtf this shit is killing me over here.
vostok
Well-Known Member
I do know of a guy that did this.well actually he cut the potting mix bags in half and inserted a clone in eachIm talking about regular plastic garbage bags usually coloured black with a volume of 50-150 litres.
What you guys think yes or no?
so long as you don't disturb the roots and have ample drainage
go for it!
but really you gotta up ur game
Budzbuddha
Well-Known Member
Considering REGULAR Plastic Pots / Buckets and the like are made from harmful
Materials like Polyethylene , it seems either way the exposure to leaching chemicals are just as bad.
Plastics should have a code or stamping
Materials like Polyethylene , it seems either way the exposure to leaching chemicals are just as bad.
Plastics should have a code or stamping
- No. 1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE)
- No. 2: High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
- No. 3: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC, vinyl)
- No. 4: Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
- No. 5: Polypropylene (PP)
- No. 6: Polystyrene (PS)
- No. 7: Other: when package is made with a resin other than the six listed above, or is made of more than one resin and used in a multi-layer combination
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
They were never meant to be portable lol. I carried them in there, I'd be fucked trying to carry them out again lol. After a couple of years we built up some great mounds of nice earth as well. It was a lot of hard work doing it but well worth the effort and never once compromised. It was a god awful spot to get to but once all set up a great spot. No one in their right mind would go in there except us bullfrog hunters
. Well that's what we would say lol.
Kevin the Great
Well-Known Member
Even if they did leach chemicals, the ionic structure of the plastics (particularly BPA) is so large that it is pretty much effectively blocked from being taken into the roots. Even if it was in the nutrient uptake, which it wouldn't be, there is no way for it to pass into the meristematic tissues and it would be stuck in the roots or at worst, the stem.
There is theoretically no way for the soil's BPA to get into the crop.
Remember, all materials need to pass through the Casparian strip in order to make through the root's endodermis and into the vasculature.
Richard Drysift
Well-Known Member
I've grown weed in doubled trash bags long ago before the dawn of fabric pots but there are better choices. It's easy to DIY a grow bag/container stitching together a roll of landscape fabric or a homer bucket with holes in it. You can use an old shirt with the neck & armholes sewn up or sew the legs of an old pair of jeans; cut em off & turn em inside out to make several size grow bags. Any fabric that'll hold dirt would work. Grow bags are cheap enough & almost any container will do with added drainage but if you are on a shoestring DIY some shit & save up your dough for lighting upgrades.