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Fabric grow bags


highchome
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I've been eyeing out fabric grow bags but the prices at the local nurseries are insane. Turns out they are really easy and cheap to make yourself

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I'm using landscaping fabric / weed shield. The smallest roll I could get was 20m for ~R220. I'll be able to make many pots from that. 

Here are some detailed instructions, if you want to try it https://northernhomestead.com/sew-grow-bag/. My wife is doing the sewing so I've got very professional looking bags now :classic_happy:

The fabric bags are great for drainage, aeration and "air pruning". I'm going to move a few clones out of the kak plastic bags and into these to see how it goes.

 

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Indeed, my wife is an expert. I can only imagine what it would look like had I tried :classic_tongue:. It would still work though even without any actual sewing skills (i..e my level), and I'm pretty sure its going to work out cheaper than even using the plastic pots. 

I'm thrilled with the results, now to see if my plants share my enthusiasm 

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Very nice, never thought of that. I literally purchased some fabric bags earlier today.

I wish I had seen this sooner, next time I will rather go this route and DIY some.

 

I assume most nurseries will stock the weed shield? They seem to love Cultera products...

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I have done side by side grows with plastic pots and fabric pots, both indoors and outdoors using identical clones and have seen very little evidence suggesting fabric pots are better for the plant.

BUT, plastic is killing our planet.

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11 hours ago, highchome said:

Yeah, I got mine at a nursery. I suspect builders will have it too. Hopefully you can get it for R60 like @Zaskar09 said, thats way cheaper

I think it might be a bit thinner than the culterra ones but I’ve had it in my garden for almost two years now and it’s still holding up well.

Granted the pots will be handled a lot more, I was thinking of adding a bit of strapping just to reinforce it a bit but at that price I don’t mind making new bags every two years.

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12 minutes ago, Moosed said:

seen very little evidence suggesting fabric pots are better for the plant.

Interesting, I'm glad someone is testing these ideas 🙂.

Like you say though it is still a big win even if there are no other advantages. Less plastic, cheaper and I can make whatever size I want (without having to go to the shops). I'm sold

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I haven’t used fabric pots yet but the concept is very similar to soil blocks (google Elliot Coleman - Soil blocks), which I have used and that really does provide a benefit over plastic trays/pots.

The main thing that every soil block user will tell you, that I haven’t seen or read anywhere concerning airpots, is that the pot/block needs to be raised off of whatever surface it’s standing on so you get airflow underneath as well. Think wire mesh etc.

The first root that a plant shoots out goes straight down, when it reaches the bottom of the plastic pot/fabric pot standing on the ground it starts circling or whatever. When it reaches the bottom of a soil block/raised fabric pot it gets air pruned and encourages the growth of secondary roots so you get a nice dense rootball.

I would imagine a fabric pot on a solid surface would be pretty much the same as a plastic pot, only the secondary side roots get pruned and the benefit would probably be negligible.

Edited by Zaskar09
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@Zaskar09  i love your reasoning and logic behind this - the other route for the bigger 300l types would probably be to have no base and let the primary root just keep going and as the secondaries in the raised section get pruned they send more growth down - resulting in the plant being more resilient to cold and drought 🤷🏻‍♂️😁

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@highchome  great job on the diy bro - this is amazing 

I tried a little while back but using a strange conveyor material a friend had given me and it didnt work out so well - i think shadenet and landscaping fabric is probably the best bet for a diy on these 

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Been using fabric lots for years , So many variables involved in this . Fabric pots will dry faster , by the pots drying faster has its pros and cons . Firstly it will add a lot of extra humidity to the room so you will either need to compensate by adding extra dehumidifiers in a sealed room or extra extraction to a normal room . It will also allow you to feed more by as long as your plants are able to use the extra nutes . It also adds extra co2 into the root zone because as it drys it pulls in fresh air . Fabric pots will also help beginners not overwater . 

I have been using some bags for about 3 years and they are starting to need replacing . As long as you can cope with the humidity there is no disadvantage to using them 

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/26/2019 at 10:47 PM, Gnome said:

what i decided to do was to use green shade netting i have a ton of it i have wire frames line with shade netting and bam any size air pot

because i was looking at 300l size but the price is to high on them

Was also thinking of doing this with the green shade net. Also going to use use the green net to line out an old washing basket, then fill it with potting soil and grow strawberries from the sides, so they dont lay on the ground. Saw this cool idea on Youtube. 

I love this DIY stuff

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